Oasis in the Sand
by PeregrineFlight
Summary: Sakura is sent by Naruto to spend a year in Suna training the medic-nin there, she arrives to chaos, but soon finds peace in the desert
1. Catch Your Breath

**So this is my first fan fic, it'll probably be awful but at least the spelling and grammar will be nice for you. =]**

**Please Review for me.**

**I've read a few Gaara fics recently and I have to say I'm usually a bit disappointed with the characterisation of Gaara; but I decided I couldn't really criticize if I hadn't tried it myself.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, OR BILL GATE'S ENTIRE FORTUNE**

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><p><em>It's been a year and a half Sasuke.<em>

_I'm sure you realise that anyway. Naruto is now officially Hokage; the ceremony was last week but in truth I think he's been Hokage since the day Lady Tsunade accepted the role._

_He's better now; I didn't think he would recover after you went away again, but I guess I underestimated his ability to be such a total knucklehead._

_Kakashi's well; he's so proud, of all three of us, and he now has the cushy title of first adviser._

_Me, well I'm still me, no grand titles just Sakura. I'm leaving for the hidden sand in a few days time, to help supplement their medical training programme. I think Naruto is jealous that he can't go see Gaara even if he won't admit it._

_Anyway, Sasuke, I have to head back to the village; love you always._

Sakura traced her fingers over the memorial stone that stood half a mile away from Konoha's main gate. She did this whenever she had the time, unable to forget the tragedy that had been Sasuke's life, and how in the end he'd come through and given his life to save Naruto's.

Turning away from the small black stone, Sakura felt grateful that in the end he'd come back to them, died as one of them. It was closure, even if it had been unbearably painful at the time.

The mission she was returning from had been an easy one; delivering medical aid to a small village to the north of the leaf, illness had spread during the past month and no one had better medic-nin than the leaf village.

The next mission she would be going on would be much more trying. To spend a year in Suna teaching medical ninjutsu. The teaching wouldn't be a problem, but spending a year away from home, with only 2 weeks leave would be tough. But it had to be her; she was the best, barring Lady Tsunade, and Naruto trusted that the Kazekage would take good care of her.

The village gates were just coming into view now, so Sakura pulled out her traffic papers. They didn't really mean all that much; no one would forget a girl with cherry blossom pink hair. The girl who hung around the high-spirited Hokage.

As usual Kotetsu and Izumo were at the gates.

Izumo nodded his greeting and stamped her traffic papers before filing them. Kotetsu grinned.

"The Hokage has been waiting for you to get back; he was down here earlier, said something about ramen?"

Sakura laughed. "Some things never change; has he behaved himself?"

"I think Kakashi has kept him under wraps." Kotetsu grinned again, probably thinking about how odd it was to have the infamous Copy Ninja babysitting the Hokage.

"Thanks Kotetsu, Izumo." She waved a hand over her shoulder as she left, eager to get to Ichiraku's for discount ramen.

Sure enough when she arrived outside the little ramen stall she could see Naruto's unofficial orange Hokage coat hanging on a stool (it was unofficial because he only wore the white, traditional, one for special meetings) and the legs of two of her favourite people in the world.

"Don't you have work to be getting on with Hokage-kun?" Sakura teased, flaunting the fact that she was the only one in the village who could call the Hokage 'kun'.

Naruto spun around on his seat and grinned, always exuberant, before jumping toward her and enveloping her in a warm hug.

She peaked at Kakashi around Naruto's shoulder to see his eye smiling back at her.

"I've finished all the paper work I needed to." Naruto informed me. "I worked long and hard all day so we could have ramen."

"You used shadow clones didn't you?" Sakura deduced. Despite how much he'd grown, Naruto would never be a fast worker.

The mischievous grin that appeared on his face told her she was right. Kakashi chuckled.

"Three hours with 15 shadow clones makes 45 hours of work; I'd like to see you fit that much work in one day Sakura."

"Hey, I wasn't judging." She defended. "Whatever works, as long as you're not bunking, you know how Tsunade was."

"Hey, you know I'm nothing like the old lady." He pulled Sakura into the seat between him and Kakashi. "I'm worried that you'll turn into her though. What with that temper of yours, and that freakish monster strength."

Sakura's eye twitched at freakish.

She snapped at monster.

Her fist connected with Naruto's face the second he finished his sentence.

Of course it took more than that to knock Naruto out these days. His clone vanished.

"I think that proves my point nicely." Sakura's fist was now safely caught in Naruto's grasp. He smiled. "Let's eat; I'm sure Teuchi wouldn't appreciate us having a welcome home brawl in here."

They ate in silence, save for the slurping of broth, and the occasional giggling as they tried to catch a glimpse of Kakashi's face.

This was the tradition, every time any of them went away on a mission for more than a week they would meet for a welcome home celebration and to catch up.

Once they had all eaten their fill, which was quite some time later Naruto smiled ruefully.

"We'll have to have a massive party when you next come home. I wish we had a little longer to catch up." The corners of his mouth twitched down and his eyes flicked to Kakashi.

"Bad news." Kakashi sounded sombre as he continued for Naruto. "A small group of rouge ninja attacked Suna."

Sakura could see where this was headed.

"Casualties?"

"No fatalities, but many were seriously injured. We received a request from the Kazekage just this morning."

"Let me guess, I'm to leave first thing in the morning."

"Gamakichi will be summoned to take you there." Naruto spoke this time. "It'll shorten the journey time, they need you like yesterday."

She met his eye. This wasn't the first time he'd gone soft on her. Keeping her home or allowing her just a little longer to prepare than was necessary, even though she was desperately needed elsewhere.

"If they need me that badly, Hokage-sama, I should leave right now." He blinked at her use of honorific; her way of reminding her that she was a shinobi, and he was her Kage.

They stared at each other for a long moment. Then he sighed, age beyond his years appearing in his eyes. "Yeah." He pulled out a mission scroll. "Go home, gather some things, you'll be travelling light. I'll get Hinata and Ino to pack you some more things to be sent after you."

Sakura accepted the mission scroll and smiled. "I'll be at the main gate in 15." She hopped of her stool and made to leave the stall but found that Naruto was holding her arm, gently.

"Make that an hour." His gaze was soft. "45 minutes won't make any difference and I want you to at least catch your breath. You won't be properly back for a year."

"But-"

Kakashi cut her off.

"That was an order Sakura. You can't save anyone if you don't at least take a pause for yourself every once in a while."

"What will you do if I'm early?"

Naruto smiled at that. "I'll punish you by hugging you until it's time to go."

And so he did. Sakura was 8 minutes early.

So for 8 minutes she was restrained and hugged by more shadow clones than she could count.

And then Gamakichi was summoned.

And then she was desperately saying goodbye to her best friend.

And then she was being whisked away from her beloved village and beloved friend and her sensei.

She staved away the impending homesickness by looking on the bright side.

Maybe she could finally get a tan.

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><p><strong>Yeah I know, no Gaara in this one, but this is pretty much an introduction, he'll be in the next one.<strong>


	2. Emergency Room

_So here's my second update; enjoy_

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><p>They travelled through the night.<p>

Gamakichi was tireless, even when they reached the desert and Sakura had to use water style jutsu to keep him from drying out too much.

It was no walk in the park for Sakura either, her perch wasn't comfortable, and she had to actively ride the toad, sometimes using Chakra to grip his back. She was glad that she'd read her mission scroll before she left, because there was no way she could read it now. They weren't stopping until they'd reached Suna. Even when her energy levels dropped to the point where she couldn't grip any more, Gamakichi carried her in one hand.

At least, she thought wryly, she could boast to Lee and Gai-Sensei that she had beaten their record.

By the time the sun was starting to descend from the sky a familiar rock formation became visible in the distance. And were those... figures approaching?

She watched warily as the figures approached, mindful of the fact that most of the rouge ninja had escaped. She felt her mount slow slightly, wary because neither of the approaching shinobi had made any kind of signal.

But then Sakura spotted the container that they carried between them; a water satchel, and, as they came even closer she recognised the girl who had been Gaara's student some years ago.

"Haruno-san, Lord Kazekage sent us out to guide you into the village, as most of the entrance has been destroyed. And we figured you might be thirsty." The man greeted her as the young female attempted to catch her breath.

"I'm surprised he knew I was coming." Sakura replied reaching for the water. "I don't think we even had time to respond to the message he sent."

This time the girl (was it Matsuyi? Matsuri?) responded with an adoring smile. "The Kazekage said the sands whispered of your presence."

Sakura had her doubts that Gaara, the Kazekage and man of few words, had used that specific phrase but she understood the sentiment.

Clearly, he had some connection to the sand that allowed him to sense people as they approached the village.

"Was the damage to the village that bad then?" Sakura enquired. "And I've only got really sketchy casualty figures. How many were wounded?"

"We've got 4 people circling the drain, 31 with severe injuries and 127 people with more minor complaints." The man again, he was probably a medic-nin. "Most were injured by the rubble and shrapnel from explosions."

"Brief me on the 4 in critical condition."

The medic Nin looked more than a little reassured by Sakura's confidence when it came to taking charge. Rightly so, with their medical capabilities this was a real catastrophe for Suna, the 31 people with severe injuries could very well end up in critical condition as well.

In Konoha this would have just lead to every medic in the village working overtime for a week. And a very harassed looking Tsunade.

He began rattling off details as they sped around the side of the village. He knew the patients well, had a sound understanding of how they were being treated and knew why they weren't really recovering properly. But he had one nasty habit.

"Listen, uhm?" Sakura started before realising that she had rather rudely forgotten to ask his name.

"Oto." He supplied.

"Your knowledge is great. But if I'm going to use you as an assistant when I get to that hospital you need to stop saying these people are _circling the drain_. The term is critical condition."

Oto flushed. "Ah yes, I guess it isn't really very professional. Wait did you say assistant?"

Sakura grinned at the man. "Yes I did, I'm going to need all the help I can get; I can't focus on 4 critical and 31 severe patients without help."

"Don't you want to report to the Kazekage first?" Matsuri interrupted.

"I'm sure that the patients who are clinging to life by a thread are slightly more important than me saying 'hi' to the Kazekage." Sakura replied scathingly. "He can wait."

"I'm glad to hear you're so eager to start work Sakura-chan."Came an amused female voice from above.

Sakura looked up at the sandy rock wall that stretched up in front of her. There, 10 feet up, stood Temari, Kankuro and, a little further back, the Kazekage.

Temari was the same as usual; confident, proud (or '_troublesome_' as Shikamaru would describe her), and of course, fan wielding. Kankuro still wore war paint, and carried his puppets on his back. He bore the same kind of expression that Temari did; confident to the point of being arrogant.

The Kazekage. Well from what she could see he was as pale as he'd always been, and still carried that gourd on his back. But he was facing back toward the village, so his expression was obscured.

Sakura noted that her welcoming party had now dropped to their knees respectfully, murmuring 'lord Kazekage' as they went. Not wanting to be disrespectful, Sakura finally hopped from Gamakichi's head and landed softly in the sand. But she didn't drop to her knees, that was a little too far in her opinion.

"I didn't travel all this way in a just over a day so that I could swap pleasantries while people need my help."

Temari smiled. "That's the leaf spirit for you isn't it. I hope you haven't over exerted yourself in your rush to save the innocent." She teased. It was obvious she was thinking of Naruto and his tendency to exhaust himself to save everyone he met. "You'd better brace yourself; Gaara's going to bring you up."

Gamakichi wheezed slightly. "Time for my exit." Sakura nodded at him gratefully, he really had over done it to get her here so quickly.

Then the ground shifted beneath her. And of course, because she hadn't been paying attention, she stumbled and landed not quite so neatly on her backside. Graceful as ever. The sand brought her and her companions level with the sand siblings and promptly deposited them on the ground.

"We'll take you straight to the hospital." Kankuro said from her left. "It's not far from here." He glanced at the still silent Kazekage, who nodded and finally turned away from the village to look at Sakura.

His expression came as a surprise. Unreadable, but soft. The slight tension in his jaw hinted at stress. The softness lay somewhere deep in his blue-green eyes. And a little in set of his lips, not smiling but not scowling. She could see why so many mothers wanted to give their daughters to him. And why those daughters would willingly go along with it. He was a very attractive man, _and_ he bore the title of Kazekage.

Kankuro led her forward to reveal some steps cut into the sandstone wall. "The place that we'd found for you to stay in was destroyed during the attack." He gestured to the village; the destruction was surprisingly wide spread, many homes must have been flattened. But the area of devastation stopped suddenly.

"I was told only a small number attacked the village. How-?" She ended her question there; it was obvious what she was going to ask.

"Most of the damage was done by the leader; his earth style jutsu flattened that area in a matter of seconds. Then Gaara deployed his sand." Kankuro explained.

"It was a miracle that no one was killed." Temari added.

Gaara said nothing; instead he started down the steps, hands curled into fists.

Sakura followed suit, itching to get to the hospital, where she was needed. "You'll be saying in the Kazekage mansion while we find somewhere else for you." Kankuro informed her.

"That's fine; I'll probably end up just staying at the hospital anyway, it won't be the first or last time I've done it." she smiled, thinking of the times Tsunade had literally had to drag her home from the hospital usually after Shizune had grown tired of convincing her to leave.

"Yeah the Hokage did tell us not to let you do that so much." Temari chuckled. "He doesn't want us wearing out his favourite medic."

Sakura stumbled on an uneven step, almost plummeting headlong into Gaara's back. "He _told_ you not to let me stay at the hospital?" She rolled her eyes; Naruto was going to wear himself out if he kept worrying about her.

They reached the bottom of the stairs shortly after and began to walk through an undamaged part of the village.

Well, the buildings were mostly intact, but signs of the attack were everywhere; broken windows, some kunai here and there, people who looked somewhat akin to refugees out in the street.

The rogue ninja that attacked the village must have been on a par with the Akatsuki.

Then they reached the hospital. Sakura could see the area that had been razed to the ground not one hundred meters away from the entrance. They had been fortunate indeed.

"Forgive me." Sakura began, eyes fixed on the area of devastation. "But how is it that no one was killed? Such a large area, there must have been some people in it."

Kankuro answered her question wearily. "The attack happened on the third day of the Festival, almost everyone was on the other side of the village listening to Gaara's speech, the few that were over on this side were exceptionally lucky."

"I keep hearing civilians say that we've all been blessed by the gods." Temari added sceptically. "Although I doubt that some of the wounded would agree."

"Speaking of wounded people." Sakura pulled her hair back into a rough bun. "I have some patients to attend to." She took three steps toward the hospital entrance but a light hand on her arm stopped her for a moment.

She turned and met the Kazekage's eyes with surprise. A deep emotion swirled in his eyes.

"Thank you, Haruno-san." His voice was husky and sincere. She'd gathered that he'd always been of few words, and that the thank you had an implied '_for coming to save my people so quickly'_.

Not sure how to respond, she bowed her head respectfully and murmured. "Kazekage-sama." Then she turned to the hospital glancing back once to see him gazing off in the direction of the flattened earth.

Once she'd entered the hospital her training kicked in. Oto rushed her to the emergency room where she was given scrubs and led to the first patient she asked to see.

Half an hour later she'd briefed the attending nurse how to continue his care while she saw the next patient, then she moved on to the next; teaching Oto as much as she could while she worked. After the critical condition patients, she moved on to the worst severe cases making sure they wouldn't get infections.

And then she moved back to the first patient, who now desperately required surgery to remove the shrapnel from his abdomen.

Sakura knew she would be working well into the next morning.

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><p>Gaara was stressed.<p>

He had to admit it; the stress was finally getting to him. But it was no surprise really; half the village had been blown away right before his eyes not 5 days before and the fallout had been terrible. So many injured, so many displaced from their homes, medics had begun dropping left right and centre from pure exhaustion. Sakura's arrival had been a god-send; he wouldn't have to worry about the hospital so much now.

And he expected another attack any day now, because they'd only brought down one of their assailants.

He put his head in his hands. He should get some sleep, but he knew that he would never be able to relax enough to rest. He eyed the bottle of sleeping pills in his drawer warily. They would knock him out for a good six hours, but he wouldn't sleep restfully, they brought cloying nightmares and left him feeling groggy and unfocused.

He stared at the wall for a good few minutes, disinterested.

He would probably have to check in on the Konoha medic. She was one of Naruto's precious people, and Gaara wanted to make sure she didn't tire herself out. Temari hadn't been joking when she'd told her what her Hokage had said about her. He'd made sure that Gaara knew that Sakura was prone to over working, that if she could she'd never leave the hospital.

She just wouldn't catch a breath for herself.

Gaara had promised that he would look after her, and he would. He'd even taken the trouble to plant a tiny amount of his sand on her sleeve, so he knew that she was still at the hospital. He could sense that her chakra was depleted now; maybe he should go make sure she came back for sleep?

No, she wouldn't, shouldn't, leave the hospital tonight; she was the best medic in Suna right now.

He broke off his staring contest with the wall to glance at the bottle again. There was no help for it. He needed to stop thinking, if only for a little while.

He poured some water from the canteen by his desk and popped a pill in his mouth, then strolled across to his sleeping chambers.

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><p>Sakura hastily shoved a granola bar down her neck as she hurried between patients, her chakra was way down but some of those patients just wouldn't stabilise.<p>

Jana, the second critical patient she'd visited kept crashing; she had several shrapnel wounds to the chest and a nasty head injury and one of her lungs had collapsed not ten minutes ago.

Takemi, a patient who had been listed as a minor had massive internal bleeding, he too had been made a critical patient after he began coughing up blood in the waiting room.

Three more patients had been bumped up to critical condition in the last hour. And because they had gone so long without treatment they wouldn't stabilise.

She needed her full team of Konoha trained medics for this. Instead she had a hospital of Suna medics who, although quick learners, just couldn't handle the injuries presented to them.

Oto rushed out of the room in front of her.

"Jana's crashing again; I think her other lung has collapsed. And she was having a seizure." He was panicking; he was no use to her like that.

"Stay here for a second." She told him firmly. "Take a minute to calm down. I can't use you if you're not calm." Rushing past him she felt a tiny wave of guilt but knew she was justified in her words.

Tsunade had said similar words to her a long time ago.

Jana's lung had collapsed. And as Sakura repaired it she started having another seizure. Oto came in at that moment followed by two nurses.

"Hold her down." Sakura ordered. "I can't work on her if she's moving like this." They all moved to their places, pinning the woman down. "Seriously hold her down guys!" Sakura shouted as the woman jerked out of their grasp. "She won't mind a few bruises if it means she lives."

The beeping on the monitor fluctuated, and then made the sound that all medics dreaded. A long flat note stretched through the room.

"Starting CPR." The nurses pulled out a board and slid it under the woman's back while Sakura pushed air into the woman's lungs.

"Come on Jana, you've got to want it." Sakura pleaded with the woman as she pumped her chest.

She knew the woman couldn't hear her. She could feel that her chakra network had already deteriorated.

_I'll try one more time._ She told herself, and each time she finished she repeated. She'd spent so much time and chakra into keeping this woman alive. And here she was, slipping from her grasp.

She stopped abruptly. Lips white.

"Call it." She said to the room, not really caring who did it. She vaguely heard someone speak and made to leave the room.

One of the doctors who had joined them in the room started preparing to move the body. She stopped.

"No." The word popped out of her mouth of its own accord. "You leave that to the orderlies. There are patients that need your care." The doctor looked almost disgusted at her words. Maybe he thought she was disrespecting the dead? "In situations like this, people die, there's nothing more you can do for her except fighting that much harder to save the next life. Right now your skills are better directed towards those you can still help."

The man looked... Sakura didn't know how he looked really, but he seemed to understand and they followed her out of the room. Away from the first fatality.

A nurse came running along the corridor.

"Haruno san, Yuki's abdomen is distended and black, and he just started coughing up blood."

_On to the next_ Sakura thought to herself, a black cloud descending over her.

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><p><em>So yeah, that was fun, lots of medical stuff, can't you just tell I've watched Grey's Anatomy?<em>

_I tried to cut down on my paragraph breaks a bit, as suggested in one of the chapter 1 reviews but I do get a little 'enter happy' when I get into it so it's probably still looking a little errr, gappy?_

_Thanks for the nice (and constructive) reviews guys, made me want to bash this chapter out a little quicker =] so if you do it again I'll try to treat you with chapter 3 asap_


	3. The Morning After

_AAAAand here's the third update! I'm really enjoying the nice comments, getting good reviews never gets old._

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><p>Three more patients slipped through their fingers during the night. Yuki was the first to go, followed by two people who had been attacked with a poisoned Kunai.<p>

The atmosphere among the hospital staff was gloomy. Everyone was bone deep tired, most of them due to the long nights. Those who worked with Sakura were suffering from rock bottom chakra levels.

Four people had died right before her eyes over night. Four people that she'd invested so much chakra into keeping alive. Every time she tried to take a nap, just for 10 minutes, someone would rush in demanding her attention.

Her only comfort was that Takemi had finally stabilised. Now she just had to hope that all the patients would remain stable enough for her to sleep for an hour, she'd set Oto the task of organising those with minor injuries, ensuring that none of them were suffering from shock or hidden injuries. She really hoped he could handle it by himself for now, because she couldn't handle any more, if she didn't sleep she would start making mistakes.

She plunked her face down on the pillow in the room she'd commandeered and let out a weak sob.

Four people.

She'd never had so many people die on her watch. The scenes played over and over in her head as she tried to figure out what she could have done differently to save them. Tsunade had always been there before, to erase her self-doubt, or even to tell her where she'd gone wrong. Now she was in it alone, she couldn't look objectively at her method.

Four people.

She closed her eyes and willed herself into unconsciousness, ignoring the names burned into her mind.

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><p>Five hours and thirty seven minutes after his head hit the pillow, Gaara was awake, groggy and trembling slightly, but awake. He shook off the lingering fear from his nightmare and pulled himself out of bed.<p>

He would visit the hospital first, and then start doing what he could to make sure everyone in the village had somewhere to sleep at night. Despite what the elders said, the finances could wait, the people came first.

He pulled on his russet brown shinobi garb (like Naruto he only wore the official Kage robes when on official Kage business) and set out for the hospital, moving quickly along the path, grinding broken glass with sand as he went; children often played here so he wanted it to be safe.

He walked purposefully into the hospital and approached the front desk where a bedraggled was filing some paper work. He realised that he hadn't quite decided who to ask for by the time she turned her bleary eyes on him.

"Kazekage-Sama, what can I do to help you?" She pursed her lips. "You're not injured are you?"

He allowed a small noise that passed for a chuckle. "No." Who to see? The head of the hospital wasn't exactly a brilliant doctor, and mostly hid in his office all day, handling the finances. "I'm looking for Sakura Haruno; the medic from Konoha." She would be able to give him all the information he needed.

"Ah." The nurse seemed a little nervous. "It might not be a good idea to wake her. She's had an even longer night than the rest of us." Sakura clearly had a fan in this woman; she spoke with a sliver of reverence in her voice. "She drained all her chakra to stabilise Takemi Moshimo. I'd speak to Oto for now; he's been working alongside her all night."

"Do you know where I might find him Nurse Katsuki?" He asked, noting her name for future reference.

She smiled as his polite manner. "See that tall blonde one over there?" Said pointing to the group of medics not ten feet away. "Yeah, Oto is the short one talking to him."

Gaara thanked her for her time before she grabbed some files and rushed away. He approached Oto and came to a stop beside him. Both men gaped at him for a moment before he spoke.

"Fill me in."

Oto blinked at his abruptness. "Of course Kazekage-Sama. We've managed to get most of the worst patients stabilised, thanks to Saku- Haruno-San and nearly all of the minor patients have been dealt with and sent home, or to the shelter for now." He sighed, energy seeming to sap from his body. "But we lost four patients during the night."

Four. It could have been worse. But one was bad enough.

"How?" Gaara prompted.

The man deflated even more and started rifling through the patient dossiers in his arms.

"Uh, the first to go was Jana Hiruka; she'd been in critical condition from the start and, uhm, in the end her body just sort of, uh, gave up." Gaara felt his eyes narrowing. "And uhm, the next was uh."

Gaara raised his hand to stop him. Clearly the man was too stressed, or distressed, to be of much use to him.

"I'll speak to Haruno-San, if you worked with her throughout the night you also need rest."

"Thank you Kazekage-sama, she's in room 18, no one has dared to go near her yet." A small smile formed on his lips. "We've all heard about her ability to punch people through walls."

Gaara nodded, turning in the direction the man had gestured. It was easy enough to find, the doors were well numbered and signs pointed him in the right direction. Reaching the door he considered for a moment before knocking. He didn't particularly want to wake her, but in his opinion she was the most senior medic in the hospital and he needed an update.

No response.

He pushed to door open smoothly and walked inside. As he had already known, she was completely unconscious, although she too looked like she was suffering from restless sleep. Her lips were turned down and she was frowning slightly; a small crease appearing between her eyebrows.

She stirred, agitated by something. Then her eyes dragged open and fell on his.

"Gaara-Sama?" She asked dazedly.

"I came for an update." He answered, pretending to be unfazed by her dishevelled state.

Her expression suddenly became alert, and sad.

"Four patients died under my care last night..." She trailed off; clearly she was deeply affected by the loss of a patient. "Two of them presented with minor injuries, just small cuts, but they had been attacked using a kunai imbued with a poison that lies dormant in the system for several days before it kills the victim."

"Antidote?"

Sakura shook her head. "I've sent a message to Lady Tsunade, she developed a method of inoculating people, but it won't work after the poison has entered the system." Gaara nodded his approval at her initiative. "The first fatality suffered extreme damage to the chest and head from shrapnel, she was having seizures, and had nerve damage thanks to the head trauma, and the chest cavity damage caused both her lungs to collapse." She sighed. "The other suffered from massive internal bleeding due to a vital artery being ruptured. It wasn't caught early enough for me to save them."

She bit her lip.

"I..." she trailed off again.

"What about the others?" She frowned up at him, confused. "That only accounts for one of the critical patients and three minor patients. What about the other three critical patients, the thirty one serious and the other one hundred and twenty four minor cases?"

Was he... trying to comfort her?

"Uhm." She gathered her thoughts. "The others have stabilised, but most of them still need constant care to keep them that way." She had never heard him make such a long speech before.

"You have gained the respect of many people tonight Sakura-Chan, including me." She was looking dejectedly at the floor so he awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder before he continued. "You can't save everyone and if you hadn't arrived when you did more would have died." He kept his hand on her shoulder until she looked up.

Many people believed that Gaara didn't have emotions or that he felt them but knew little about them. And the truth was Gaara let people think this, but the people closest to him knew that he felt things just as keenly as everyone else; he just stayed poker faced out of habit.

Sakura's eyes met his, they looked a little wet, and they were slightly bloodshot; probably partly due to lack of sleep.

"I expect you to leave the hospital tonight, and eat a proper meal." He told her. "You won't save anyone if you don't rest enough." He dropped his hand and turned away, walking calmly from the room. Now was the time for him to help his own people.

Sakura watched him leave, surprised by his words. Naruto had always insisted that Gaara was a softie at heart, and while Sakura would never describe Gaara that way she could see what he was getting at, he'd gone out of his way to make sure she was ok.

She dragged herself off the bed; feeling a sudden need to eat her body weight in hospital food.

Out in the street, in front of the hospital, Gaara turned his attention to the flattened expanse of sandy earth. Unlike the previous Kazekage, his father, he would take a more hands on approach to helping his people.

Reaching the edge of the standing part of the village, Gaara began forming hand seals; glad he could finally make some houses for people to stay in. Placing both hands on the sandy earth he directed the sand rise up, forming structures based on the previous layout of the area.

He heard Temari sigh behind him. "Show off, you could have done it in sections you know."

He ignored her, gritting his teeth in concentration as he compacted the sand and shifted more evening out walls, pushing large lumps of rock to the side.

He sighed and sagged just a little as he finished, Temari was probably right. "Tell the stone masons to get to work replacing these buildings as soon as they can; the sand structures won't last forever."

He turned to look at Temari. "And then head down to the shelter and let people know they can move into the houses they were assigned to yesterday."

"Didn't sleep well last night, huh?" She asked, ignoring his instructions and pressing her lips into a concerned line. Gaara's expression didn't change.

"What makes you say that?"

"I'm your big sister, I can always tell." She cocked her head to the side. "Maybe you should have another check up, see if they can do any more for you at the hospital."

Gaara crossed his arms and said nothing, staring his sister down. After all, the hospital was busy; they could do without him complaining about a little insomnia. Temari sighed again.

"Stubborn as ever." She muttered as she turned and ran down the street to carry out his orders. He watched her go with the barest hint of a smile on his lips. He didn't really mind when she nagged him about his health; it was her way of showing that she cared.

His outlook dimmed as he thought about the mountain of paper work and finances he had to deal with.

* * *

><p>After finally snatching a few hours sleep, Sakura was finally back on her feet. All the patients had been stabilised, and, thanks to Sakura's healing techniques, they were on the mend.<p>

This meant all that there was to be done was sorting out the mess of patient files, discharging any and all patients that could be discharged and teaching as many medics as many techniques to keep things under control.

Sakura chose to delegate all the paper work to the head medic, who had spent the entire crisis locked in his office. And she took four medics around with her as she searched for patients to discharge, demonstrating and teaching as she went. She even found a shower, Sakura had almost cried with relief when she climbed into the stream of piping hot water.

Things seemed less hectic with sunlight streaming through the windows. Even if it wasn't the gentle sunlight of Konoha.

And so the day passed; the calm after the storm. _Or maybe it's the eye of it,_ Sakura thought idly to herself, only one of the rogue ninja had been defeated after all. Would the village survive another attack like that? Would she be able to train the Suna Medics so that they could cope with the next catastrophe?

The questions swirled thickly through her mind as she trudged around the hospital, checking in on the critical patients, and sneaking by the children's ward as a guilty pleasure.

Of course she was quite surprised when the turned a corner and walked straight into Temari.

"Time to leave, Sakura." She proclaimed with a bright smile on her face. "I won't take no for an answer!" she added before Sakura could even think of protesting. "How will you ever read your mail if you never leave the hospital?" She asked slyly, pulling a scroll from behind her back waving it at Sakura.

"I'm not above clobbering people who withhold my mail you know." Sakura pointed out an ominous look appearing on her face. In Konoha seeing that expression usually led to people backing away slowly.

Temari grinned again. "I'm not withholding, I'm just saying that if you never leave the hospital you won't get your mail." Turning on her heal she gestured for Sakura to follow; bringing the letter from Konoha as bait had been a stroke of genius. Too bad it had been Kankuro's idea.

"I have to let someone know I'm leaving."

"Already done, they've been told not to let you near patients for the next 12 hours. Unless it's an emergency of course." That of course had been Temari's idea.

Sakura followed Temari from the hospital reluctantly. She had to admit though; from a medical stand point she would have dismissed anyone else a long time ago. As soon as they were out of the building Temari handed her the letter; it was from Naruto; babbling about the fact that her stuff was on its way, and that he missed her.

She fell into step beside the blonde woman deciding that she was going to make their walk as uncomfortable as possible.

"So... heard from Shikamaru lately?" Temari laughed.

"That man is far too lazy to send me love letters, although he did stop by on his way back from a mission..." Surprised that Temari had been so forthcoming Sakura pressed for details about the relationship. There had been rumours about them since the day she had rescued him from one of Orochimaru's sound ninja.

They had just walked past a group of children, playing in the sand when Temari stepped in front of Sakura wearing a serious expression.

"I wanted to ask you a favour Sakura." After blinking in surprise Sakura nodded, frowning a little. Temari was seldom this serious. "It's about Gaara actually, he can't sleep properly, and the hospital gave him these horrible sleeping pills that don't really help him rest."

"So you want me to see if I can find something else for him?"

"Exactly; he's just too stubborn to go get it sorted for himself."

So as Sakura followed Temari into the Kazekage mansion, she considered the issue. It was no surprise that Gaara, the former Shukaku Jinchūriki, had trouble sleeping; considering the first 16 years of his life had been spent sleepless. The medics in the Suna hospital had gone for the easy fix, sleep inducing drugs, rather than looking at the deeper cause. Treating the symptom, not the sickness.

By the time she'd started her meal she'd already come up with a few treatment methods to attempt. She just had to figure out how to broach the subject with him. A plan popped into her head, simple, yet brilliant. She smiled.

* * *

><p>Gaara placed his pen on the desk and moved the last file to the side. As usual he'd eaten his evening meal in his office, so he could plough through the last of the paperwork.<p>

This was the worst part of being Kazekage; it left him feeling weary and a little irritated. But it had to be done.

He stared at the wall for a minute, tiredness dragging at the edges of his brain even though he didn't feel sleepy. He glanced down at the innocent looking bottle of pills in his desk drawer and then back at the wall.

He sighed and poured a glass of water.

Three quick raps on the door grabbed his attention.

The door swung open and Gaara's eyes met green.

* * *

><p><em>Whoop, so not too much really happened in this chapter but it was a necessary filler.<em>

_I'm not really sure how long this is going to be; I have a general plan in mind but I tend to just let things roll out by themselves so let me know if I start waffling._

_The fourth chapter is underway already =]_


	4. Demonstration

_Get me, another chapter already, although this one is only a diddly one._

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><p>Sakura's plan was simple; tell it like it was. She'd never really been one to beat around the bush anyway.<p>

"Temari told me you've been having trouble sleeping and that you've been taking medication that doesn't help." His expression remained deadpan as she approached his desk and boldly invited herself to take a seat.

"And?"

"And I can help." He met her gaze in much the same way that he'd been staring at the wall not a minute before. Judging the sincerity in those earnest green eyes. "Sleep medication should only be used as a temporary relief. Insomnia indicates a larger problem." He waited for her to make her point. "Being the former Shukaku host, you're bound to have difficulties, anxiety and nightmares are to be expected however there's a multitude of ways to help you sleep restfully."

"Such as?" Gaara prompted in a way that didn't betray his interest.

"In the short term I can perform a special chakra infusion which should help you sleep in the place of those nasty pills." She shot a dirty look at the bottle that was probably just visible to her. "And in the long term I'll teach you what's known as good sleep hygiene and there's a course of cognitive and behavioural therapy. We'll probably have to go through the underlying psychological issues as well."

"How long have you been planning this?" Gaara asked. He had to admit that he was thrown a little off balance by her bold manner. Most people tread carefully around him, mostly out of respect, some out of fear. But she had the audacity to burst into his office at that time of night and start discussing sleep hygiene and behavioural therapy.

"A couple of hours. I've told you all you need to know; if you're interested..."

"How does the chakra infusion work?" Gaara cut across her; even he couldn't hide his interest here. A good night's sleep had always evaded him.

And if anyone could help him it would be this pink haired kunoichi. He had been told several times that she had long surpassed Lady Tsunade, her teacher, in every way. And it hadn't just been Naruto telling him this. Kakashi Hatake, Shizune and even Tsunade herself had confirmed it.

She was still considering her answer. "Well, it's pretty much exactly what it says it is, uh think of it as a massage for your chakra maybe?" She frowned, searching for a better explanation. "I could demonstrate if you like, it'll give you a better understanding."

Gaara's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, trust was always an issue but this was one of Naruto's most trusted friends. He nodded. She stood and walked around his desk and leant against it next to him. She held out her hands. "Normally the technique is applied directly to the temples," she explained. "But for a demonstration your hands will do."After a brief pause Gaara placed his hands palm down on hers.

The effect was instant.

He felt a wave of serenity but then there came the surprisingly tangible effect of chakra interacting with his. Impulsively he tried to push it away, fighting the foreign presence.

Sakura's hands twitched in his and he heard a small gasp of pain. "Gaara-" she gasped, pulling her hands away from his. The sense of ease slipped away from him and he looked up at her confused. "If this is going to work for you, Gaara, you need to stop yourself from fighting back."

He stared at her mutely and she sighed. "I'm only using healing chakra and, as you just demonstrated; your chakra is much more powerful than mine, so you could stop me from harming quite easily."

He didn't bother explaining that it wasn't a fear that she would harm him that caused him to react in such a way. It was just natural recoil.

"Very well." He held his hands out. Cautiously Sakura placed her hands in his and closed her eyes. Just like before he felt a sense of ease wash over him, and then the chakra mingling with his, it moved slowly, tentatively, withdrawing slightly whenever he threw up a barrier against it then continuing gently. He felt his own chakra become a little calmer which in turn made his body relax.

Sakura let go of his hands. The relaxation stayed but deeper sense of ease vanished. "Using your hands as a contact point has the same end result as using temples, but it takes longer to get the same effect." She ran a hand through her bubblegum locks wearily. "It would take twice as long to get the same effect. And twice as much of my chakra."

"How much of your chakra does it require?" Gaara asked; he didn't want a treatment that would drain her chakra too much.

"Through the temples and with me at full chakra level a ten minute session would take about five percent of my chakra." A small smile quirked at her lips. "Interested?"

He met her gaze for a long moment, not wanting to base his decision entirely on the way the chakra infusion made him feel. She shifted uncomfortably and she looked away. "Yes. It seems that it may be more beneficial than the drugs."

"Then I'll finish off the chakra induction for tonight and I'll go over the rest of the treatment regime with you tomorrow."

"Which means you'll have to leave the hospital." Gaara commented. His lips curled up in an involuntary smile; how convenient.

"I guess; that must have been your plan all along." She replied matching his smile, probably guessing what he was thinking.

Her eyes flicked up to meet his again and her hands lifted impulsively. "May I?" She must have sensed an issue with trust. "Of course I could continue using your hands as a contact if you prefer..."

"No, it's fine; go ahead."

She shifted a little closer and stretched her hands out resting her fingers lightly on his temples. Serious emerald green eyes stared into his. "If you want me to stop, say so, you could seriously hurt me if you fight my chakra." A moment of silence. Then, without waiting for a response, she closed her eyes.

The effect was more intense this time, her chakra moved through his more confidently this time; gently mingling and calming. He watched her expression as she worked. He had seen similar expressions on the faces of people who were deep in meditation, although there was a tiny frown creasing her delicate brow. He wondered idly if she could talk to him in this state.

Her eyes half opened for a moment. They looked a little hazy as they drifted over his expression, then they slowly closed again.

He exhaled deeply and felt his own eyes close as he turned his attention inward. His heart rate had fallen and the ball of tension in his chest had loosened considerably. He could feel a small amount of Sakura's mental presence within him directing the flow of chakra. He was sure this was the reason why he now had such a heightened awareness of her physical presence.

Time stretched endlessly as their breathing unconsciously synchronised and the effects of the treatment deepened.

"That should do it." Her voice was soft, almost a whisper, as she lifted her fingers from his temples. Her presence receded but the flavour of her chakra remained in his system and on his skin.

He opened his eyes reluctantly. She smiled. "Just don't fall asleep in here." Nodding he rose to his feet, with the intention of going to bed straight away.

She followed suit swaying precariously. Eyes spacing out. "Whoa." She uttered dizzily. She stumbled.

He grabbed her arms to steady her. "You said it only used a small amount of your chakra." His tone was accusing but concerned.

"It does, I'm fine, I was a little drained before I started." She pointed out as she steadied herself by placing a hand on his chest as she rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"Will you have recovered enough by tomorrow?" He asked regarding her carefully.

"Of course." She smiled again, disengaging from his arms and stepping away. He hadn't realised how close she was until more space fell between them. "It's time for both of us to get some sleep."

He followed her out of the office.

"Gaara?" She'd paused behind him as he'd turned to secure the door.

"Yes?" She didn't respond so he turned to her. She was biting her lip eyebrows knitted together in concern. The image confused him; she had been so confident and certain earlier in the evening; now she was the very picture of shyness. She looked much younger, in fact he was reminded of the first time he met her, at the Chunin exams all those years ago. Only the worry in her eyes made her look older.

"... Never mind." She started down the corridor before he could stop her.

He watched her go, not wanting to keep her from rest. Then, suddenly remembering where he was headed he hurried into his room.

It occurred to him as he undressed for bed that chakra infusion was an extremely intimate procedure. The more he thought about it the more intimate it seemed. Extended sharing of chakra, her probing into his body with her mind, the trust she placed in him to not hurt her, not to mention the physical proximity. It explained why she had become uncomfortable under close scrutiny.

Those thoughts were soon tucked away when he literally fell into bed and the last image in his mind before his head hit the pillow was a pair of serious, green eyes.

* * *

><p><em>Sooo, it's my 20th birthday tomorrow, well it's nearly today actually so i'll say saturday=p (yeah I know; I'm so old) so there will probably be a slightly bigger gap in between chapters this time; but hey I can't always publish a chapter every day =p<em>

_anyways, please leave me some more lovely comments, this whole chapter is a nice little present for the people who've called for more gaasaku action, muahahaha my fiendish planning is working well_


	5. If you were Naruto

_oops so it's been just over a week since I last updated, silly work, anways I can't always update every couple of days so thanks for being patient._

* * *

><p>The bed was so warm and soft.<p>

Gaara rolled over and stretched, recoiling slightly as he reached the cold side of the bed. His eyes cracked open slowly. The sun was streaming in through his window, it must have been at least ten, he'd slept for nearly 11 hours.

That settled it, Sakura was a miracle worker. He dragged himself out of bed before he could close his eyes and sleep for another few hours.

* * *

><p>Sakura was already at the hospital; a damaged building had collapsed, injuring the two occupants. She had taken the back seat this time, instructing her small teams while delegating the task of setting up an old conference room for training to a friendly orderly who offered his assistance.<p>

Despite how early she'd started, and how tired she was, Sakura was in good spirits; her plan the previous night had worked perfectly. Even if Gaara had nearly knocked her out at one point.

Gaara was just lucky that she was one of only three people in the leaf capable of performing the procedure. Or more to the point, _willing_ to perform it. She wondered if Gaara even had the slightest idea how intimate the infusion was.

She also wondered when exactly it was that she was going to discuss the rest of the treatment with him. Maybe she could have him come to the hospital; maybe she should just waltz into his office again and do what she'd done last night.

After a while these thoughts were lost to her, buried under a pile of questions and requests for assistance. So you can imagine her surprise when she rounded a corner and ploughed straight into the Kazekage.

Both of them where surprised. Gaara caught her arms and staggered back slightly.

"Gaara? I mean, Kazekage-sama, I'm sorry; I wasn't paying attention." He stared at her mutely offering no apology of his own. No harm had been done.

"You said you had more to discuss with me today." He prompted.

"Oh yes, I suppose now is as good a time as any, but don't be too surprised if I have to rush away for one emergency or another."

Gaara would have been surprised if someone did interrupt; they would most likely be too nervous to interrupt his meeting, even if it was with the best medic currently in the village.

"I'm assuming you don't want to talk about it right here." She smiled knowingly. Pulling away from him, making him release his grasp on her arms. She started down the corridor. "I found a room to use as a make shift office; we can talk in there." He watched her walk away for a moment, feeling strangely off balance. She glanced back, giving him an odd look, and gestured for him to follow.

Putting the odd feeling down to the fact that he wasn't used to dealing with people like her. Sakura was just like Naruto in the way she dealt with people, although she would never admit it, because she treated them as her equal.

Which reminded him. "The envoy from the leaf should be arriving in the next few days." She turned her head in this direction. "I've arranged rooms for them."

"I wonder who he sent."

"Kakashi Hatake, Ino Yamanaka and," he sighed, "Shikamaru Nara." She laughed.

"Oh he's outdone himself this time."

"Three Jounin to protect your possessions does seem excessive." Her lips curved into an endearing smile.

"That's what you get when you're the Hokage's old teammate." She laughed again. "And now he's got a whole week without Kakashi nagging him." Still chuckling she led him into room 18.

"I see." She sat on the bed and crossed her legs serious look back in her eyes.

"Take a seat." He sat down on the chair she indicated.

The discussion lasted an hour and a half, to begin with she instructed him on how he should use his room, how he should keep up a regular sleep cycle and not eat heavy meals before sleeping.

Then came the complicated bit.

"To be honest we both know that your sleeping problem is linked to the Shukaku. This is why your treatment will have to focus on the psychological side of things." She twisted her lips in uncertainty. "I don't know who you would be more comfortable with for that..." She flipped through thin folder wearing a pensive expression. "There are only four Suna medics who have the qualifications for-"

"What about you?" Gaara interrupted.

"Yes I'm qualified. I just wanted to give you the option of choosing someone from your own village."

"Who is the most qualified?"

"Well... that would be me."

"And is there anyone else in the village capable of the chakra infusion treatment?" Sakura considered her answer; she was sure there would be others capable of it, but would they want to?

"Ok I get your point Gaara, but some people would just rather talk to someone from their own village." She watched something in his expression change slightly. "Unless of course they're part of the problem?" His eyes narrowed dangerously which told her she had hit the nail on the head... in the most tactless way possible. "I just meant that maybe you might have a harder time with someone from Suna because, well, it was this village that made you a Jinchūriki." He continued to stare at her for another few seconds, long enough to make her squirm uncomfortably, and then turned his eyes away.

"When do you want to start?"

"Let's give it a week; we'll continue the chakra infusion and you should consider where you would feel most comfortable talking about your... issues."

"Very well."

"And I don't think we should do the chakra infusion in your office... your room would be better, or somewhere more comfortable if you prefer." He frowned minutely.

"Why not my office?" It was where he conducted all his appointments, and the idea of meeting Sakura in his room struck him as unusual. She snorted.

"Well that's fine by me but I don't really think you want to think of your office as a place of rest." She met his eyes, fearlessly this time, challenging him to prove her wrong. He fought a smirk back. Only Temari ever spoke to him like that. But that was because she was his sister and therefore felt that she was supposed to boss him around. Sakura was once again proving that she treated everyone as her equal; she was second to no one.

"Very well. What time shall I expect you?"

"That depends."

"On?"

"When you want to sleep." _Duh._ She didn't say it, but both of them knew she wanted to.

"Eleven then." He stood and moved closer, crossing his arms. "Before you hurried away last night, what were you going to say?" One of her eyebrows rose and she pursed her lips slightly.

"I was going to ask you if you thought the rogues might attack again, but I figured that wouldn't exactly help you sleep." He could see the worry etched on her face now, it made her look tired, older.

"It's likely." He admitted with a sigh. A sad smile played across her lips.

"I should have known this wouldn't be easy." She chuckled softly. "At least I can say life isn't boring."

Gaara watched her silently for a moment, her genuine concern and now her wry humour had disarmed him slightly.

"Have you eaten yet?" The words popped out so unexpectedly that he had to suppress the urge to look for their source.

She looked as surprised as he felt; it was after all completely off topic. He felt a small bubble of amusement.

"Well, not really, I had some fruit before I left this morning."

"Is that all? And you call yourself a medic?" Another bubble of amusement as she blinked. "Time for your lunch break." He grabbed her hand before she could do anything more than make a confused yelp and pulled her off the bed. He led her out of the hospital in much the same manner, being careful not to hurt her, or provoke her to use that monstrous strength on him.

He wasn't willing to test his sand defence against someone who could knock down a building with one punch.

"Gaara, where are you taking me?" She managed as he pulled led her along the sandy road. "Wait, better question, have you gone insane?"

Good question. The truth was Sakura intrigued him, surprisingly so. Maybe it was the chakra infusion, anything that left him feeling that blissful was bound to catch his attention.

"I'm taking you to food." He took the latter question as rhetorical.

"But there's food in the hospital." Sakura protested, pulling her arm back slowing him down.

"I'm taking you to _good_ food." Gaara corrected yanking her along again. "Aren't you supposed to follow my orders while you're here?" He distinctly heard her teeth click together. Now he'd have to tread carefully, unless he wanted a chakra infused fist to the back of the head.

Finally he reached the small restaurant he'd been heading for. In his opinion it did the best food in the whole village.

He released Sakura's hand and gestured for her to follow before he turned for the entrance. She cracked her knuckles behind him.

"If you were Naruto I'd be pummelling you right now." She growled as she pushed past him and disappeared into the restaurant.

* * *

><p><em>Well it's not the best chapter anyone's ever written ever but it was amusing to write, things should start getting more exciting in the next couple of chapters, aaand some fun leafy people will arrive soon as well =D<em>


	6. For Now

_Oh I had so much fun writing this one, there was supposed to be a lot more content in this chapter but APPARENTLY it started to get a little bit on the long side._

_I don't think anyone will complain too much, the characters seemed to just run amok lol_

* * *

><p>Sakura wasn't sure why she felt so violently angry toward Gaara. It wasn't even anger; she just wanted to hit him. She should have been delighted that she was eating her lunch in a nice cool restaurant with the Kazekage, who she had to admit was a very, very attractive young man.<p>

Instead she was quietly fuming, wanting to give said attractive young man a good kicking.

"Are you going to scowl at me the whole time?"He asked in his usual deadpan. She narrowed her eyes in response and shoved another dumpling in her mouth. This seemed to amuse him greatly the corners of his mouth twitched. "Suit yourself." She watched him watch her gulp down another dumpling. "You can't say you weren't hungry." He pushed his remaining dumplings toward her.

"I've spent nearly 7 years as Naruto's teammate, when you eat with him you eat fast or you lose it." She smiled fondly picking up another dumpling, thinking of the last time Naruto had tried to nick some of her food; and the apologies that had to be made to Teuchi in the aftermath.

She also remembered a time when he'd tried to sneak a bite from Sasuke's plate. And a time when she'd willing fed Naruto while he was tied to a post.

She shoved the memories aside, along with the familiar ache that came with them.

She noticed Gaara's eyes were analysing, calculating. Her scowl had slipped slightly but now it returned with a vengeance. _Stupid Gaara paying too much attention_ she thought savagely, gulping down another dumpling. Naruto seldom noticed these things. Or if he did, he knew her well enough to ignore it.

"Would you like some more?" His expression was completely neutral again.

"I'm not made of money." She pointed out arching an eyebrow at him.

"And?"

"And I doubt I have enough on me to pay for more." She said slowly, spelling it out for him.

"I'm responsible for ensuring you get to eat and have a roof over your head." He pointed out blankly. "So eat as much as you want."

"Well you've already given up a room in your own home, that's enough." She argued.

"Well I'm having more." Sakura gaped at him.

"You can't be serious; you didn't even finish your first lot." She pointed out. Somehow she'd lost some of her aggression, now she was just slightly bemused.

"They're finished, and I'm still hungry, I'm getting more."

"But you didn't even finish them yourself." She pointed out now feeling faintly amused by the situation.

"Yes I did; see." He showed her the empty plate which was now miraculously in front of him. He indicated that he wanted more before Sakura could stop him.

_Kazekage one; Sakura nil._

"I'll use gen-jutsu on you next time you try that." She threatened.

"Try what? Ordering more food for myself?" She fixed her most threatening scowl on him and stayed silent. He met her glare blankly; content to wait.

By the time the dumplings arrived Sakura was leaning toward him over the table in an attempt to intensify her glare. She jerked back when two plates of dumplings in front of Gaara.

"So hungry you need two portions?"

"Yes." Was his simple reply. She narrowed his eyes at him as the picked up the first dumpling. She could tell he was amused by the general situation; apparently Gaara was more willing to joke around than anyone had thought possible.

Her stomach growled audibly and Gaara's lips twitched as he picked at the second dumpling. He'd probably already guessed that she wouldn't have the will power to win this time. Silently, he pushed the second plate of dumplings across the table.

"Lost some of your appetite?"

"I'm not as hungry as I thought I was." He continued to pick at the second dumpling, watching her as she looked indecisively at the food he'd pushed toward her.

"Well then, I hate to see waste." She shot him a threatening look. "But maybe I should check out that appetite of yours, I warn you though, the tests aren't all that pleasant." She would win next time. Next time? Well next time she'd chain herself to the hospital doors.

She polished off her dumplings and the remainder of Gaara's dumplings in just under ten minutes.

He wore a satisfied smirk as she swallowed her last bite, hunger finally sated.

"Better than hospital food?"

"Hospital food is very nutritious." Sakura pointed out evasively.

"So yes then." He interpreted.

"Well if it's too nice people won't want to leave the hospital, especially under my excellent care." She laughed.

"Well we'd better make the food worse then; I heard a rumour that some of the patients are staying in critical condition for some of your attention." His lips twitched at the corners again; clearly his way of smiling. "Maybe now my Jounin will actually seek medical attention and attend their checkups."

"What about you? I bet you're even worse than the rest of them."

"Well having heard from the Hokage that you like to track him down and violently drag him to the hospital..." He paused to muse for a second. "No I don't think I will, I'd like to see you try to drag me around."

"Oh is that a challenge Kazekage-sama?" She felt a slightly feral grin spreading across her face. He met her eyes as she cracked her knuckles and smirked.

"Maybe." His eyes slid to the clock. "But for now we should return to our respective duties."

He stood, leaving money on the table, and gestured for her to follow. She glanced at the clock on her way out, had they really been there for two hours?

As they stepped out of the small restaurant a group of children ran by she could tell they were playing ninja, a favourite game among children in all the hidden villages she had visited. She watched Gaara as he watched them. His eyes were soft. She imagined he probably wasn't very good with children, but that didn't mean that couldn't appreciate their joy.

"Gaara?" She began quietly. He turned to her meeting her eyes, sensing that she was being more serious now. "The people who didn't make it..." She trailed off unsure how to phrase her question.

"Their families." She nodded. "We've done all we can for them, fortunately no children were left orphaned this time." He started walking down the road and she followed silently. "Children are resilient, they'll pull through this long before the rest of us." He glanced across at her. "We should know." _After all we went through._

They turned a corner and one of the children ran headlong into Gaara. She bounced off comically and landed flat on her face. She rolled over and looked up at Gaara with big round blue eyes evidently afraid of retribution.

He smiled and crouched down next to her. "Are you ok Misu-chan?"

Sakura crouched down beside him when she saw a big cut on the girl's knee. "Want me to take a look at that for you?" She offered. The girl nodded tremulously. "Ok, Misu-kun, I'm Sakura I came here from Konoha to help at your hospital." She pulled a latex glove from her pouch and snapped it on as she spoke and wiped the cut. "Oh this should heal up nicely." She focused healing chakra in her other hand and applied it to the cut, soothing it and encouraging the healing process. Within seconds it had shrunk in size and scabbed over. She stopped there, it was better to let things heal naturally where possible. "There you go, Misu-kun, Just don't pick at it and within a few days it'll be completely healed." She nodded smiling nervously. She squealed adorably when Gaara picked her up and set her on her feet.

The little girl beamed up at them. "Thank you Sakura-chan. Thank you Kazekage-sama!" She ran off down the street to join her friends.

So she had been wrong. Gaara wasn't awkward with children at all. He glanced at her and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"What?" He asked.

"Oh I don't know; you just didn't seem the type to be good with kids."

"Children are honest." He said simply. "And they never dance around the point like most people do as they get older, I find that soothing."

They walked back down to the hospital in a pensive silence. Sakura was absorbed by Gaara's words, the innocence of children. Gaara was thinking about people who didn't mince words, unlike the council.

They stopped outside the hospital for a moment. Sakura nodded respectfully, though the formality felt a little odd to her. "Thank you for the food Gaara-sama."

His lips twitched and he nodded back before starting down the road without another word. Sakura smiled as she watched him leave, despite the fact that he'd dragged her down there, and she'd spent a good part of it wanting to hit him in the face, it had been entertaining.

She strolled back into the hospital, remembering that she actually had work to be getting on with. Immediately she was accosted by Nurse Katsuki, better known as Selenia.

"So where did the Kazekage drag you off to?" A wickedly teasing grin appeared on her face. "I wouldn't surprise me if someone as pretty as you bagged Gaara-sama, but secret liaisons already my dear?" Sakura laughed.

"Have you always been this gossip obsessed Selenia?" The woman did seem to be a gossip collecting machine.

"Oh that isn't a denial!" She exclaimed in excitement, reminding her somewhat of Ino when she got her paws on juicy gossip.

"He came for an appointment, and upon hearing that I hadn't eaten yet he insisted that I eat something other than hospital food. That is all." She shook her head at Selenia's disappointed expression. "Did anything of consequence happen while I was away?" She watched the nurse's face fall.

"Oto's wife; Sandra, was brought in. She's in a coma and they can't tell why..."

"In a coma?" Sakura exclaimed in shock. "Where's Oto?"

"In with her, he can't work while she's in the hospital." She handed the chart to her and Sakura flicked through it, eyes narrowing.

Four hours later Sakura had finished her check up on the comatose woman. Oto appeared, the five hundredth time, to ask her how she was progressing.

"I've finished for now. But I still don't know what it is that's caused the catatonic state." She sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I'll have to continue my tests tomorrow." He looked as though he might try to protest this but decided against it, returning to his wife's side, taking her hand in his.

Sakura checked the clock. She'd stayed an hour later, to make up for missing time over lunch and now it was time for her to leave. She needed to refuel before Gaara's chakra infusion treatment.

And she also needed a word with him.

So when Temari arrived to make sure she left the hospital she didn't protest instead she struck up a conversation with the wily blonde woman, asking if she was excited that Shikamaru would be arriving tomorrow.

She took her evening meal with Temari, and was soon joined by Kankuro. Once again Gaara ate in his office, preferring to finish his work for the day.

Eating with the two siblings was a jovial affair. Temari would nag Kankuro about the women he'd been seeing and Kankuro would make faces at her and joke about Shikamaru. Then Temari turned her attention to Sakura.

"What about you Sakura, I bet you've got them lining up for you back home." She teased. Sakura laughed uncomfortably.

"Oh not really, but then most of the guys back home are afraid I'll punch them through a wall if they try anything."

"I bet you earned that reputation." Kankuro pointed out. "I know Temari earned hers, what did you do to the last guy who tried to touch you up sis?"

"I blasted him out of the bar with my wind jutsu. It was justified!" Kankuro chuckled, apparently reliving the fond memory.

"You see my point. So what did you do?" Sakura feigned a bashful expression.

"I may have punched him through three walls and hospitalised him for a month. Plus I'm pretty sure everyone has seen me go after Naruto, and they know he only survives it because he's the Hokage."

"Three walls?" Kankuro repeated appraisingly. "Well that beats your record Temari." He chuckled.

"Lady Tsunade's record is seven." Sakura pointed out with a laugh. "But she did tell me that it was because Jiraiya really got up good momentum because he was so big."

They all laughed at the idea, neither Kankuro nor Temari were surprised to hear that it had been Jiraiya that Tsunade had hit.

"So no man waiting for you back in the leaf? Interesting." Temari mused.

"Unless you count Naruto and Kakashi, I'm pretty sure they've been threatening people behind my back."

"Don't encourage her Sakura, she'll get into full matchmaking mode." She heard a layer of genuine fear under his mocking.

"Already there my dear brother." She flashed a grin. "I'll have them lining up around the street for you in no time!"

_Oh dear, changing the subject._ "Oh I spoke to Gaara by the way." Temari blinked.

"Already? Wow you certainly don't mess around, is there anything you can do for him?"

"I've already started his treatment." Her jaw dropped.

"So in one day you've convinced him to let you treat his insomnia _and_ you've started the treatment?"

"Well I started the treatment last night after I spoke to him about it." both of them looked at her dumbstruck. "Did neither of you think to just speak plainly about it with him?"

"Well yeah but it took both of us two months to convince him to visit the hospital last time." Kankuro explained.

"And even then he wasn't very cooperative." Temari added. "I wish I knew how to get him to take my advice." She looked at Sakura carefully, as if she were weighing her up, but said no more as she gulped down the last of the food.

Sakura had the feeling that they felt a little hurt by the fact that Gaara had trusted her advice quicker than he trusted them. While it was true that it came as a surprise how quickly he'd let her work on him, she _had_ manipulated him, showing him how good the chakra infusion was. She checked the clock waiting for eleven o'clock to come around.

* * *

><p>Gaara waited patiently for the time to pass.<p>

He'd finished his work half an hour ago, and it still had half an hour to wait until he met Sakura.

He ran his thoughts over their lunch break. Specifically, her expression just after she had mentioned being Naruto's teammate for seven years.

At first she had seemed amused, but then her eyes had become distant and sad. He knew she had been reminiscing, and the Uchiha boy had probably entered her thoughts. It made him feel...

What? Gaara didn't really know how it had made him feel; just that he didn't want her to be sad anymore. He'd seen that expression whenever Naruto mentioned his old teammate, but whenever this happened Gaara just felt empathy with him.

He felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he thought about how stubbornly she had refused to let him pay, and how she had quickly seen she was defeated and played along. He would have to keep an eye out for her revenge.

There was a soft knock on his door.

"Enter." He called out, sensing Sakura's chakra on the other side. She stepped in, her lips pressed together in a hard line.

"I was wondering if I could just have a quick word with you before we begin." He nodded, curious, and gestured to the chair opposite him. She sat down and sighed.

"There was a woman admitted to the hospital while I was away from the hospital." He frowned. Was she about to blame her absence for the woman's condition? "She's in a comatose state, no one was able to tell what caused it, and no one has been able to wake her." She paused and frowned deeply.

"And?"

"And then _I personally_ spent the whole afternoon running tests." She stopped again which made Gaara feel agitated.

"What did you discover?" he prompted.

"I believe that a jutsu was used on her to induce the coma." There was a long silence.

"She was attacked?" Gaara asked, leaning forward, pulling out a sheet of paper and a pen.

"In a sense, yes..." His eyes narrowed at her uncertainty.

"How sure are you about this?"

"One hundred percent."

"Then why do you sound like you're uncertain about something?" She bit her lip.

"This jutsu, it had to be done recently, and it's a very complex medical jutsu; usually used on a patient before surgery." She sighed.

"So the suspect is a medical ninja." He surmised. This made her look even more unhappy.

"The technique was developed by Lady Tsunade and Shizune, as far as I'm aware only leaf medics are skilled in this technique... and this jutsu was perfectly executed... to the level that only a select few can do."

Now Gaara could see why she was so concerned. If none of the medics in Suna knew the technique then it meant a Konoha medic had performed it, and she was implying that only the most skilled medic could have done it.

She was the only suspect.

"Can you give me a time frame for when the jutsu was performed?"

"I would estimate any time from eight o'clock this morning."

"And where were you at eight o'clock this morning." She hadn't done it. There was just no way, if she had she wouldn't have reported it, and it wasn't her style. She was too hot blooded for this kind of thing.

"I..." she frowned as if she was struggling to remember. "I was at the hospital already I believe. Yeah I must have been talking to one of the doctors about the patients brought in when that building collapsed."

"And you stayed in the hospital until I met you?"

"Uh.. yes." She was frowning again. And she sounded a little confused.

"You don't sound convinced." He pointed out. "Is something wrong?"

"Well I just, I don't _think_ I left the hospital, but I just can't quite grasp what happened this morning." She put her head in her hands.

He knew witnesses would confirm that she had spent the morning in the hospital. If it came down to it, he would also be able to confirm it; up until a few minutes before he'd met her in the hospital there had been a few grains of his sand on her clothing.

He stood and walked around the desk to put a hand on her shoulder.

"We will continue the investigation tomorrow." She looked up at him emerald eyes showing her confusion and fear plainly. "I am more certain of your innocence than you are, it seems." He crouched down in front of her looking up into those eyes willing her to believe that he would work it out for her. "You did not do this." He told her.

Her eyes focused strangely for a second before they returned to his eyes.

"Thank you." She said softly, her breath touching his face. He nodded and stood.

"Shall we proceed with the chakra infusion?" He asked, taking a step toward the door.

"Yes, though I recommend you get changed first."

"Of course. Follow me."

He led her out of the office and down the corridor to his room where he indicated for her to wait as he entered the ensuite bathroom to change.

He was deep in thought now, working out all the possibilities and motives surrounding the attack on the woman, and how it had almost been orchestrated to look like Sakura had done it.

The woman may have gotten in the attackers way somehow, or discovered something she shouldn't have. And Sakura might be an incidental victim; her difficulty accessing earlier memories suggested that a jutsu had been used on her.

He felt hot anger rising in his chest. Unreasonable anger.

He was concerned about the woman in the hospital, but the fact that Sakura had been involved and hurt was driving him into a fury.

He gripped the edge of the counter and closed his eyes, clenching his jaw. It had been a long time since he had felt anger like this, but he remembered how to calm himself, taking deep breaths and assuming a state of meditation for a few minutes.

Finally, when he was calm enough to face opening his eyes, he finished changing and returned to his room were Sakura was waiting for him.

"I'm ready." He informed her serenely.

She looked at him awkwardly for a moment. "Ok then, sit on the bed and make yourself comfortable." He complied, sitting cross legged on the bed facing her.

Moving over slowly, Sakura sat down facing him, mirroring his stance.

"Remember; don't fight it." he nodded and she gently placed her fingers on his temples. She stared into his eyes and he felt a tingling in his spine just before her chakra slipped into his body.

Her eyes closed as she concentrated and he felt his aching to do the same, but he resisted for a moment, examining her face.

It struck him then that she was probably one of the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. There were plenty of women in Suna who were pretty, they milled about in uncomfortable clothes and with their faces painted like dolls.

But Sakura, her face was clean, and he could see the shadows under her eyes because she worked too hard. She was both delicate and lean at the same time.

Her lips were a soft pinkish-red, and her dark pink eyelashes were long and elegant eyebrows were set over her now closed green eyes.

Only the set of her lips and her jaw marked her as a kunoichi; but gave her face strength and character that in his opinion other women often lacked.

And so they sat for ten minutes, Sakura, eyes closed soothing Gaara's chakra easing him for sleep. Gaara examining face, wondering how he hadn't noticed it sooner.

All too soon he felt her chakra withdraw. She sighed and rolled her shoulders, opening her now soft green eyes.

"Feeling sleepy yet?" She asked rhetorically. "Because I am."

He didn't answer, suddenly torn and surprised by a mad urge to kiss her.

Which he wouldn't do, because it would be wrong. Wouldn't it? He searched for the reasons why he couldn't, but his mind just couldn't get there.

She was looking at him curiously now. "Gaara? Are you ok?" He must have been looking at her strangely, because she leaned closer to get a better look into his eyes.

That made the decision for him. His body wanted her closer, and it acted.

His hand snaked up to grasp the back of her neck, and quickly, gently he pulled her lips to his. She resisted for the slightest moment, his other hand rested at the base of her spine and stroked upwards. Her response seemed automatic then; she leaned into him, allowing him to deepen the kiss pulling her even closer.

He felt her fingers lace into his hair, sending jolts of electricity down his spine, and her other hand rested on his chest, gripping his thin sleeping shirt.

Her lips tasted so sweet. Laying back, he pulled her along with him so that she rested in between his legs, and he broke the kiss only to kiss her jaw and neck running both his hands down her back.

She shivered at his touch and he rolled her over, sliding his legs between hers, needing a better angle to reach more of her. He reclaimed her lips hungrily pressing her into the mattress, feeling the length of her body against his, and all of his nerves felt like they were on fire.

"Gaara." She murmured suddenly he ignored it trying to keep her lips too busy but she pushed him away. "Gaara, wait."

They were both breathing heavily, staring at each other, coming to their senses slowly. "Gaara what just happened?"

In truth, he had no idea. He decided to take it in his stride. "It seems I just kissed you, and you returned the favour."

"But why?" He smiled; she looked completely confused and flustered. He leaned in and kissed her neck, nibbling at the soft skin gently. She shivered again and her breathing became uneven.

"Why not?" He breathed. She squirmed slightly.

"Because... uh... stop that!" She exclaimed loudly hitting him as he moved to nibble at her collar bone.

He sat up surprised by her reprimand. "I'm sorry; I just... don't really know what's come over me." His eyes roamed over her, she was in a vulnerable position but her expression was defiant... but not offended he noted.

"Well let's put a stop to that for now." She flipped him over suddenly, untangling her legs and flipping off the bed. "You're supposed to be sleeping not working yourself up like that."

She turned and left the room abruptly leaving her words echoing in his head.

_For now..._

* * *

><p><em>I hope you enjoyed that rather hench chapter, I certainly did, especially the part in the restaurant (oh yeah that was my favourite bit) it always makes me laugh when my characters decide to behave like that.<em>

_There will be some sakura pov on what just happened in the next chapter, clearly, and the leaf guys are actually going to arrive this time, I think I promised that in this chapter =S. Also there will be a big plot leap in the next couple of chapters_

_Please review my lovelies =]_

* * *

><p><em>Edit; 1107/11_

_Sorry Guys Chapter 7 is on it's way, I've been holidaying in a godforsaken hell hole with no internet and stuff, it will be up within the next few days_


	7. Presents

_Sorry about the wait guys, extenuating circumstances, but thus is life_

* * *

><p>Chemistry was an unusual thing.<p>

Sakura was not thinking of the kind where you mixed acid and alkali to explosive effect, or mix together two chemicals to create something new. Although Sakura was excellent at _that_ kind of chemistry.

She was silently cursing the slightly more complex nature of biological chemistry. Why oh why did it always seem to crop up in the worst places?

That rather fetching Jounin who had bravely approached her while she was in Ichiraku's? No chemistry at all. Dead fish. No dice.

Completely inappropriate, currently her commanding officer Kazekage, Gaara of the sand on the other hand? Well, that fish was alive and rolling sevens.

Sakura stared up at the ceiling.

What _had_ happened last night? One minute she was performing the infusion, then Gaara had looked at her oddly and before she could grasp what was happening he was on top of her and she didn't want him to stop.

And she was usually such a bumbling idiot in that kind of situation, but instead she'd felt... empowered?

She felt her stomach clench as she thought about the way he'd been looking at her right before he kissed her. At first there had been conflict, but when she leaned closer it turned to hunger.

Rolling over for the hundredth time, she rubbed her eyes; she'd been restless all night, alternately thinking about Oto's wife and the kiss.

So of course she had been hot and cold all night. The thought that she might get the blame for the attack made her break out in a cold sweat. The thought of Gaara's kiss, his lips... nibbling at her... well, that definitely left her feeling quite hot and bothered... it didn't stop her from replaying it in her head though.

And Temari had told her that while he didn't eat dinner with them very often, he was always in the kitchen in the morning, making coffee before he started working...

She recalled the way his lips had tasted. Almost salty? Maybe sandy was the word, whatever it was it left her craving for more.

She groaned and climbed out of bed. Hopefully Kakashi and the others would be arriving with her things; it would be a welcome distraction. She pulled on her last set of clean clothes, a short dark red yukata top with her clan symbol on the back and black shorts that covered her thighs but stopped just above the knee.

The classic Sakura look.

She stared at herself in the mirror for just a moment, telling herself that it would be better face the music sooner rather than later. After a full two minutes of staring at herself she murmured. "Oh get a grip he's not going to bite you." She turned and marched out of the room and down into the kitchen.

There was no one there, though the delicious aroma of coffee embraced her as she walked over to the fridge, deciding that this time she would have a proper breakfast. She pulled some butter out and turned to stick some bread in the toaster. Her hand paused after she popped it down.

"Good morning Gaara." She said curtly. She turned to face the man who had ghosted into the kitchen and was now standing behind her. "Sleep well?"

He nodded. "Very." He stepped a little closer, causing Sakura to step back into the counter, and leant past her to pour his coffee, expression blank. "You?" He was close enough that she could feel his breath on her face, and his body heat radiating out to her. Apparently he was going to toy with her.

She did her best to keep her thoughts coherent. "Well enough." He didn't move away, but his expression changed ever so slightly, his eyes were more attentive now.

"You look tired." He observed.

"Ok so I didn't sleep so well, no big." He was giving her a look now. A look that made her a little nervous. He leaned past her again, even closer this time, to move his coffee.

The toaster popped up. And Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Your toast is ready." Gaara pointed out with a smug look. She shot him a dirty look and turned her back on him to retrieve her toast. She concentrated on buttering, trying her hardest to ignore Gaara.

Trying, because she could feel his presence quite keenly behind her.

"So why didn't you sleep well?" He asked softly.

"I had things to think about. Like me being implicated in that woman's attack." Like how she felt like she was going to melt if he got any closer.

"It's obvious it wasn't you," he started tracing his thumb up the bare skin of her arm, "There's no way for you to be implicated." She could feel his breath on her shoulder and neck.

"Even though I'm the only one who -"

"Too many witnesses, I've checked already." He interrupted. She felt what must have been his nose tracing a line up the side of her neck to just behind her ear.

"You've... checked?" She asked disjointedly. It was amazing how a few light touches were turning her brain into mush.

"Discreetly." He breathed into her ear. If she'd been planning on saying something she forgot instantly, as he began to nibble at her ear. She felt shivers radiating across her skin.

"Gaara, maybe you shouldn't..." she began shakily.

"Why not?" He breathed. She could have sworn that she'd had a well reasoned thought planned but apparently coherent thought was becoming an elusive and unattainable thing for Sakura this morning.

"Because, uhm..." He spun her around and pushed her against the counter and brought his face close to hers, so his nose was alongside hers, his lips millimetres from hers.

"There's no real reason why we shouldn't." He sounded quite reasonable. Either that or they were both in a state of delusional abandon.

"Will people not see me as trying to garner power? Or, or I don't know just..." When she said it out loud it seemed like a pathetic reason. Evidently Gaara thought so too, he scoffed quietly.

"Is that it?" He moved somehow even closer to her with the air of someone moving in for the kill. She moved her lips up to his.

"Sakura?" The moment broke and they slid apart. "Gaara?" Temari's voice sounded like it was coming from the front entrance of the building.

"We're in here." Gaara called out, still eyeing Sakura. He moved over to her at lightning speed, pulling her into his arms for a short, but deep, passionate kiss. "We don't have to broadcast it." She nodded, and then he was across the room sipping his coffee.

Temari entered the room.

"The, err, 'envoy'," She seemed to be reluctant to use an official word to label such a farce, "from Konoha has been sighted; they'll be here within the hour."

"They're here already?" Sakura asked surprised, somehow managing to make her voice steady. "I'll have to go meet them!" She said, excited by the prospect.

"You can accompany me; I'll have to bring them over the wall." Gaara offered, putting down his now empty cup and offering Sakura her toast, which she had completely forgotten about.

"Maybe you should take a parasol, Sakura." Temari suggested scrutinizing her a little more closely. "You're looking a little flushed."

"Yeah, maybe." Sakura agreed quickly, feeling her face get even hotter. "The sun just isn't as powerful back in Konoha." She added feebly. Temari gave her an odd look and glanced questioningly at Gaara who, clearly being a better actor, shrugged coolly.

"We'll leave in half an hour." He poured another coffee and turned to Sakura. "I'd like to discuss a few things with you in my office. You're going to be key in investigating and tracking down that jutsu user." He brushed past her on his way out indicating that she should follow. "Not very good at secrets are you?" He asked once he was sure they were out of Temari's earshot.

"I wasn't ready for it!" She exclaimed scowling. "I'm a kunoichi, I can lie and cheat with the best of them." He smiled.

"Of course you can Sakura..." His tone was condescending but light. He turned his back, opening the door to his office.

She timed it carefully, stepping forward just as the door opened and aiming a good hard shove into his back. Sand whipped up out of nowhere and curled around her wrists. He turned, amused by her predicament.

"Oh that reminds me." He lifted her chin with one hand and examined her face. "Would you mind if I planted some of my sand on you? Just until after we've sorted out the rogue ninja situation..."

"_Plant_?" She asked suspiciously. He pulled a small bag from his pocket.

"If you carry this with you I'll be able to find you if there's any trouble, especially if someone was intentionally trying to set you up." He swung the bag in front of her eyes. "Temari and Kankuro both carry them."

"Fine then, but just until things are safe." The sand released her and he dropped the small bag into her hand before stumbling into the room.

Pushing him had been a diversion, as she'd stepped forward she'd surreptitiously slid her leg into position. She smiled sweetly as he threw a short glare in her direction.

"So what did you want to discuss?" She asked, trepidation returning. "Or did you just want to get away from Temari so you could continue harassing me?"

"Is there any way you can wake the woman?" Gaara asked, getting straight to the point, ignoring her comment.

Shaking her head, Sakura thought back to her instruction with Tsunade. "If the jutsu is done correctly only the one who placed it can wake them."

"So, this person must not be killed under any circumstances?"

"Well the death of the jutsu user also breaks it." He nodded, presumably he wanted to capture the culprit anyway; their motive was still unknown.

"Do you think there could be any way to communicate with her, even if you can't wake her?"

Sakura pondered this for a moment. Ino was on her way; she could use the mind transfer jutsu, but the risks were too high. But then... "I could attempt a variation on the chakra infusion maybe... I don't know how successful it would be, or if it would work at all even, but there may be a way for me to gain access that way..."

"What are the risks?"

"Risks?" Sakura asked thoughtfully.

"What kind of risks would it have for you?" He pressed. She knew the risks, but she knew that if she succeeded they would know the attacker instantly. It was worth it.

"Unknown, but it shouldn't be too risky; I can withdraw my chakra at any time." She lied.

His eyes narrowed infinitesimally as he stared her down. "You're lying."

She met his stare, determined to make him believe her. She pressed her lips together.

"Yes."

"Tell me the risks."

"You won't like it."

"Tell me."

"I could die." They stared at each other for another moment. "Or become permanently brain damaged. Or get trapped in the same jutsu that she's under."

Predictably, Gaara shook his head. "My ANBU are working on it. They'll find out who it was soon enough."

She opened her mouth to protest and Gaara put a hand up to silence her. "I'll put you under guard if I have to."

She laughed wryly. "Oh I'm sure I could get away if I really tried." He made a small noise in the back of his throat which clearly meant he didn't believe her. "Was there anything else Kazekage-sama?"

He picked up a file and stood, moving over to a cabinet to Sakura's left. "Just one thing." He ghosted away from the cabinet, appearing behind her, hands on her shoulders lips by her ear. "You need to get better at lying." She felt a shiver run down her spine.

"Fair enough." Trying to be nonchalant she stood, making some space between them. "Should we be going?"

His lips quirked up into a small, amused smile. "Probably." But instead of making to leave he only moved around the chair Sakura had just vacated and pinned her against the desk. Surprisingly, his expression was serious, eyes searching. It was also surprising that his serious expression surprised her, before arriving in Suna she had thought serious was his only expression. "Promise me you won't try to communicate with her." He breathed.

"I'll give you a week." Something akin to a scowl crossed his face but he said nothing, clearly confident in the fact that his ANBU would uncover the spy before her deadline.

"Fine." His tone was flippant but his eyes were quite serious. After a moment his eyes drifted down to her lips. The hungry look she'd seen the previous night returned. She barely had time to think before his lips met hers and he pulled her closer almost roughly.

One of his hands fisted in her hair while the other travelled down her waist. She caught his bottom lip between her teeth biting down just enough to make his breath catch. Suddenly he lifted her onto the desk and pushed her back, lips never leaving hers.

The sound of shattering glass woke them both up. While the desk had seemed like a good idea at the time, apparently the glass inkwell and water pitcher begged to differ.

Ah chemistry, always getting out of hand.

It occurred to Sakura, as they stared at the rapidly spreading inky mess; that they were behaving like lusty teenagers, even though neither of them were in their teens any more. They didn't really even know each other all that well.

For a moment they sat there, slightly dumfounded and just a little breathless.

"Think we should go now?" Sakura suggested, breaking the silence, thinking maybe they'd wasted just a little too much time 'talking'.

"Yes."

"Should we clean this up first?" He gave her a look that told her quite plainly that he wasn't in the business of cleaning floors and that someone would be sent to clean the office. "Fine then," she rolled her eyes, "let's go."

Outside, the sun was already beating down, making Sakura very uncomfortable. Up until that point she'd managed to stay in the hospital for most of the day, and her excursion with Gaara had been fairly early. Now the sun was beating down scorching the sand and, more importantly, Sakura's skin.

After just two minutes of trying to bear it she finally dived into the shade of a nearby building.

"Something wrong?" Gaara stood a few feet away, in the blistering sunlight. Apparently oblivious to the fact that it was a million degrees.

"To hot." She panted. "How can you stand it?"

"I've lived here all my life." He pointed out. "We have to get a move on." He told her with the barest hint of urgency. A swirl of sand rose up from the ground, creating a thin veil for her to walk under.

"I guess spending all day in the hospital doesn't really help me acclimatise." She mused, gratefully slipping under the sand.

"Probably not. Next time I force you to eat something other than hospital food I'll make you sit outside."

She gave him a defiant look. "Next time you pull something like that I'll do everything in my power to punch your lights out." She threatened, ignoring the fact that he had the ultimate defence.

Saying that was a mistake. The gauntlet had now been thrown down. Both of them knew that now Gaara would drag her places just to prove that he could.

They reached the stone steps leading up to the place where Sakura had entered the village and Gaara gestured for her to go first. She sighed as she remembered how long the flight of stairs had been. Stairs are always draining, even if you're a ninja.

"Hey how come you have to lift everyone into the village?" She asked looking over her shoulder at Gaara. "Surely people can just climb up using chakra."

His eyes flicked up to meet hers, giving her the impression that he'd been probably been staring inappropriately, and shrugged. "The wall is quite unstable on the other side, and this way I know exactly who is entering the village." He explained gazing over her shoulder toward their destination.

They continued silently until they reached the top.

The desert was vast. Every ninja knew how many miles it was across, and how long it took to traverse it, and how much water you needed to pack.

But standing up on the wall around Suna really made Sakura feel small. The sand extended to the horizon in all directions, were it met blue cloudless sky. The sand was dotted only by a few stunted cacti.

And five small shapes running their way.

Sakura immediately recognised Kakashi. Tall, mad silver hair that glinted in the sun and a steady understated gait and she was pretty sure that was a book in his hand. Yup, that was Kakashi alright. Ino was the next she picked out, blonde hair fanning out behind her, with a run that was distinctly feminine.

She knew that one of the others was Shikamaru. He wasn't all that distinct from a distance, but now that she was looking closely she could see that the one at the back had a particularly lazy run.

Sakura chuckled quietly to herself, oblivious to the fact that Gaara was watching her. Only Shikamaru could be running at full pelt and still look lazy.

As they got closer she could see that Matsuri was guiding them, along with a Suna medic she recognised but couldn't pin a name to.

It took another few minutes for them to reach the base of the wall.

"Nice of you to come so quickly, I had no idea me being well dressed was such a high priority." Sakura called down to them. She noticed that they weren't too heavily laden with bags; Tenten must have helped Ino and Hinata pack.

"Well of course," Ino called back to her, "We understand that you have a frightful addiction to clothes and other accoutrements. Obviously you can't be going without a nice scarf in this weather."

Kakashi looked at Ino doubtfully. "I hope you didn't waste space on scarves..." Sakura heard him mutter. There was no response from Ino, so Sakura gathered that she had, in fact, packed the kitchen sink, and possibly the bath.

Matsuri gestured for them to brace themselves, and much to Sakura's disappointment, none of them disgraced themselves as she had when Gaara began lifting them with his sand. He deposited them in front of Sakura and turned to her.

"You clearly need to work on your balance," he murmured to her so that the new arrivals couldn't hear. She hit his arm, surreptitiously but when they turned back to the others she noticed Ino's gaze had honed in on the gesture.

"So how did Naruto justify sending all three of you here?" Sakura's tone was full of disapproval, Ino she could understand; she would have been instrumental the packing process. She could even understand Shikamaru coming, due to his relationship with Temari.

Kakashi? First advisor to the Hokage, Infamous copy ninja... now that was overkill.

"He was concerned about any lurking rogue Nin in the area." He shrugged. "He said that the village would just have to cope without us for a few days."

"He had a hard time stopping everyone coming." Ino piped in. "Although Hinata seemed to be pleased by the opportunity to help him out." Now that was unsurprising, ever since she became a Jounin she had been a lot more confident. Some people even felt sorry for Naruto, being targeted by a woman of her calibre was bound to cause trouble at some point.

"I guess I should just be glad he didn't drop everything to come out here himself." She sighed trying to imagine the excuses he would come up with for a trip to Suna. There was a short pause as they all did the same; Naruto was a lot wilier than he let on. "Well I guess I should unpack these scarves you've gone to so much effort to bring me." She suggested, uncomfortably aware of the heat of the sun still.

Gaara nodded beside her. "I've arranged accommodations." He stated simply regarding them blankly, although there was a little distaste as his gaze lingered on Shikamaru.

On their way back Temari joined their entourage. She immediately snagged Shikamaru's arm informing him that he was going to be paying for lunch and dragged him away.

Three people looked distinctly unhappy about this. Gaara, because it was his sister and he was honour bound to hate any man who looked at her, no matter how good it was for inter-village relations. Ino, because she'd always been a little bit jealous, even though she'd never deign to be with Shikamaru.

Last but not least was Shikamaru, but everyone knew he enjoyed it really.

None of them saw the true scope of the damage that had been done; the new sand buildings looked very much like permanent structures.

"How is Suna recovering from the attack?" Kakashi asked, addressing his question at Gaara.

"Well enough, most of the west quarter needs to be rebuilt." He sighed and nodded to Sakura. "We are in Konoha's debt; Sakura-san's arrival provided a great relief in the hospital."

Sakura looked away, still unable to shake the names of the four people that had died under her care.

Gaara on the other hand continued to look at her, correctly assuming that she was still deeply upset that those patients hadn't made it.

Kakashi smiled proudly. Or Gaara assumed he was smiling, the eye crinkle was certainly an indicator. "Naruto would only send the best." A small chuckle. "Although I think he was a little disappointed when he remembered that was Sakura." They walked in silence for a moment, both of them watching as Ino babbled to Sakura about the things she'd packed for her while dragging her along ahead of them.

Gaara gave Kakashi another glance. "There has been a small problem. It appears that someone has attacked a woman using a medical jutsu only used by leaf medics."

The silver-haired Jounin's pace faltered for a moment. "Attacked?" His tone remained as flat as Gaara's. "With medical ninjutsu?"

He nodded once. "You should inform the Hokage, and probably Lady Tsunade. My ANBU will find the culprit but there's a possibility the jutsu has leaked."

"Does Sakura know about this?"

"She told me." He offered blandly. Kakashi was giving him a measuring look, ready to leap to Sakura's defence. "And I've already secured several witness statements that prove it wasn't her." There was an audible sigh of relief.

"I'll be sure to let the Hokage know. And speaking of Lady Tsunade; we have the vaccine for the poison. The request arrived just minutes before we were leaving."

He pulled out a dark blue scroll and handed it over.

Inoculations should begin immediately; the hospital was already visible ahead.

"Sakura-san," Gaara called out casually. She stopped and turned to face him as he approached. When he caught up he gestured she should continue by placing his hand lightly on the small of her back, an innocent gesture, but just a little too lingering to be meaningless. "I have something for you." She'd stiffened ever so slightly under his touch.

"Really? No one ever gets me presents." She had adopted his deadpan manner.

He pressed the scroll into her hands.

Her face lit up like he'd just given her a puppy.

"I'll get to work right away." And with barely more than a 'come on Ino' she rushed off to the hospital.

As she burst through the hospital doors, dragging Ino behind her she started recruiting '_volunteers_'. They congregated in an old conference room and before long she was distributing the vaccine and dispatching people to the places allotted by the existing emergency inoculation procedure.

The whole thing took less than half an hour.

"Man, you really have them eating out of your palm already don't you Sakura?" Ino chuckled as the last person left. "Including the Kazekage I see." Ino's lovely features slid into an evil smirk as Sakura spluttered to make her denial. "Oh come on, I saw you giving him that little playful punch. And also I met this lovely nurse; she told me he dragged you out of the hospital for 'lunch'. And that you were gone for two hours..."

"And?" Sakura cut back shortly, that all seemed perfectly innocent.

"And...What's the dish? I know how you flirt Forehead; it usually involves hitting in some way." She grinned. "I must say I'm impressed, you've only been here a few days."

"Oh grow up Ino-pig." She spat back, aware in some way that resorting to name calling was just a touch on the hypocritical side. "If you must know, I've just begun treating his insomnia."

"With late night rendezvous?" Ino wriggled her blonde eyebrows in a way that seemed just a little too practised.

"Chakra infusion, pig."

That shut her up. Her expression was abashed. As abashed as Sakura felt at the idea of Ino figuring out that she'd had a close encounter with Gaara. "Insomnia?" She deduced after an awkward pause. "Is there not a better way to treat that?" She was cringing, no doubt thinking about the time she had attempted chakra infusion. On Chouji. And they hadn't been able to look at each other for two months.

"He was already taking sleeping pills to little effect. The infusion is only short term"

Ino twisted her lips together, looking more than a little unhappy. "Does it not make you feel uncomfortable though Sakura?"

"Not really," there was nothing uncomfortable about it, although she didn't like the idea of doing it with anyone else she could think of. But she didn't know Gaara well, so she didn't associate specific feelings to him. At the same time he wasn't a total stranger, so there was balance there that made her feel less uncomfortable. "I guess it doesn't really feel like it's an unusual thing to do, neither of us have made a particularly big deal out of it."

"Maybe you haven't." Ino muttered ominously before bundling up some of her things and marching from the room leaving Sakura to hurriedly do the same and chase her out, wearing a confused frown.

* * *

><p>Half an hour after showing Kakashi to his accommodation, Gaara was finally getting some work done. Time seemed to be ticking by slowly, but he still made little progress with the tedious paperwork.<p>

It didn't help that there were more important things monopolizing his attention. Like an impending attack, or a spy/saboteur in the village, or the fact that Temari was on a date...

Next to all that it new furniture for the village elders seemed even less important.

He declined the request with a savage swipe of his pen and stared at the new document that had just appeared in front of him. He glanced up at the ANBU now standing by his desk.

"Been busy I see Kankuro."

"That's my mission report." A pause. "You're not going to like this."

"You've discovered the spy?"

"We found a body, it was well hidden, looked like they'd died a few days before the attack..."

"And..?"

"Due to its location we believe that Sandra Ucino may have uncovered it, and this is why she was attacked."

Gaara didn't even bother responding, connecting two and two.

"The body was that of Oto Ucino."

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><p><em>Hope that was worth the wait for you, I'll try to get the next chapter out asap<em>


	8. Imposter

_oops so long time no update, this one's a short one, just couldn't seem to get through it._

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><p>Gaara could have punched himself. He'd spoken to the man; he'd been fooled by his nervous act. He'd sent him to rest.<p>

He paused only to hoist his gourd onto his shoulder as he leapt out of the window.

* * *

><p>Ino was very good at disappearing when she wanted to. It shouldn't have been a surprise really; she was a shinobi after all but she never really gave off a particularly stealthy vibe, which lead people to believe she wasn't.<p>

So naturally when Sakura lost her round a corner she gave up, her normal way of finding her wouldn't have been appropriate. Punching the hospital to the ground probably wouldn't have gone down too well with anyone.

Sighing, she wandered down the corridor to place the last of the 'vaccine' in storage; she had decided it would be better not to tell Gaara that the vaccine was actually another chemical that could be considered a poison. But it had little side effect and once the chemical was in the system it had the handy property of neutralising several other poisons... even so she felt a little shifty as she placed it in the antidote section, writing a note that the side effects included itchy skin and drowsiness.

She paused in the doorway on her way out, internally debating whether or not she should find Ino when she saw a figure sneaking out of one of the rooms down the corridor.

Ninja senses tingling, she watched the figure as they skulked down the corridor toward the front of the hospital. It was definitely a shinobi, he had a distinctive limp that indicated he had been injured in battle in the past, but it wouldn't be an impairment; just an annoyance. Curiously the limp seemed to disappear occasionally and he took on another gait altogether, one that seemed familiar.

He turned a corner. At that pace it would take him around a minute and a half to get out of the hospital, enough time for Sakura to check which room he'd been in and, if need be, jump out of the window to intercept him. She darted down the corridor to the room the man had left.

It was the first time she'd visited that room without Oto being nearby. Sandra remained silently unconscious, but the chair Oto had camped on had been knocked over and the water pitcher had fallen to the floor, the water was still spreading to meet Sakura's shoes.

She leant out of the window just in time to see the man shuffle out of the building. A shock ran through her when she realised that it was Oto, sweat was dripping down his face and he seemed to be in pain.

Had he been attacked? Was there an intruder?

She thrust the window open and jumped out, landing nimbly a few steps behind Oto.

"Oto, are you alright?" She put a hand on his shoulder as she spoke and he flinched away.

"S-Sakura... I was just, I needed to get out of the hospital for a while." Sakura might have been able to believe that, if she hadn't seen the state of Sandra's room and connected the dots.

"What happened to you? Are you hurt?" His eyes were slightly wild as he looked around.

"I..."

"Sakura!" A voice rang out from a distance. She could see Gaara and an ANBU darting over the rooftops.

Sand was shooting toward them.

Everything was very sudden after that. Before she even had time to register that the sand was forming a spearhead she was standing in front of Oto, with her arms restrained behind her back.

* * *

><p>Why did she have to be with him? Gaara despaired as he called her name. Of course her defences were down so the Oto imposter was easily able to restrain her before she could even register Gaara's incoming attack. It happened so quickly that he barely had time to disperse the sand spear before it struck. Them.<p>

She hardly even blinked as she was showered with sand.

He and Kankuro landed in the space in front of the hospital eyes locked on the kunai at Sakura's chest. One upward thrust and she was dead.

"It seems I've finally been ousted." The man's face relaxed and changed, twisting into a new, unfamiliar face. "I have to say I'm pleased," he drawled, "I'm not sure I would be able to keep pretending to be a bumbling Suna medic for much longer."

His face was broad and covered with the same markings that Gaara had noticed on the rogue Nin who had attacked the village.

He sneered as he saw their hesitation. "Awfully handy this one." He pulled her closer against his body and licked her neck. Her face remained blank. "So many handy medical techniques for me to borrow, _and _apparently a good bargaining chip."

"What have you done to her?" Gaara heard Kankuro ask from his left.

"Just a little gen-jutsu she's experienced before. I can learn all sorts of interesting things from her using this; like restricted Konoha ninjutsu, or... oh my," his sneer became even more pronounced and he practically salivated with twisted pleasure. His eyes met Gaara's and it became abundantly obvious what he had just discovered. "Been busy have you Lord Kazekage? I expect you don't like to see her in the arms of another man, do you?"

Kankuro twitched beside him, but, testament to his training; he didn't look away from the man.

"If you want to live." Gaara's voice was calm; hiding the turbulence just beneath the surface. "You'll release her now."

"Oh I don't think so, I like her just where she is." Somehow, his sneer became even more pronounced. "I can play with her however I like, just like a doll." He ran a hand up her body a crazed look passing though his eyes. "I might keep her as a pet."

Gaara's eyes flicked to Sakura's blank ones.

She had to be in there somewhere, although perhaps it was better if she was unaware of where the unnamed ninja's hands were wandering.

A spasm of anger flashed through her eyes.

"Waking up are we?" The man addressed Sakura. He leaned forward and licked her neck again before whispering something in her ear.

She paled and her jaw clenched.

"Release her." Gaara's voice remained flat. "Now."

"Oh I don't think so." He cackled. "I want to play with her a little longer." He licked her neck again and she suddenly jerked in his arms struggling; unable to unleash her full strength. "Don't you want to play my flower? You might even start to want me as much as I want you. I'll make you want it." Gaara's stomach twisted sickeningly as the hand holding the kunai travelled down her body and he began nibbling her shoulder.

He met her eyes. Her fear was apparent, but she asked nothing of him. She didn't need to ask.

The man was dead within a second.

* * *

><p>Sakura felt Oto's weight falling forward onto her, pressing into her back. The ground swung up toward her rapidly and she landed face down in the sand.<p>

Why couldn't she move?

And why was her stomach so wet?

Had Gaara..? Had he attacked Oto through her?

Breathing started to become difficult as her chest cavity began to fill with blood. Was that a weapon still in the wound?

Her vision went black and the last thing she knew she was being lifted off the ground by strong arms.

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><p><em>Don't worry my little chickpeas the story will get finished, I'm not in the habit of not finishing what I start, or letting a little writers block get in my way.<em>


	9. She's a Kunoichi

_check it out, new chapter up already for you =]_

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><p>There was a lot of confusion after Gaara brought down the imposter.<p>

Sakura made no move to push him off and only Ino, who had arrived just a moment too late, had seen the guy spasm as small balls of sand shot through his head and spine.

Blood spilled onto the sand as they converged around the two prone figures.

"I don't understand; you attacked from the side, right Gaara?" Kankuro was murmuring.

Ino scowled as she pulled the imposter off Sakura.

"You idiot. You attacked his spine? A head shot would have been fine, but oh no Mr. Kazekage you just have to hit his spine causing his body to convulse." She flipped her friend over deftly and examined the wound. "We need to get her inside; having sand everywhere is just so inconvenient."

Gaara stepped forward to pick her up but Kankuro beat him to it.

"You really shouldn't run around covered in blood; Temari would say it's unbecoming and then hit me for letting you do it." the ANBU mask hid his expression but Gaara knew this was not the real reason.

"Just hurry up." Ino interrupted, giving Kankuro a little push.

Gaara looked around quickly for a handy shinobi. "You three," he addressed a small team Genin who were looking shocked by the scene. "One of you get some of my ANBU to take this body off the street. One of you go to the council and tell them to convene for an emergency meeting as soon as possible. Whoever's left, guard this body with your life." He ordered. Eager to please their Kazekage it seemed, they leapt into action with barely a pause.

Gaara then followed the others into the hospital deep in thought. Why had the imposter remained in the village? What kind of information had he been conveying to the enemy? Was Sakura's injury really his fault? Where there other imposters in the village? Did Kankuro disapprove..?

He hardly noticed when Ino ushered Kankuro into a room ahead of him. In fact he was only roused from his pensive state when the blonde kunoichi slammed the door in their faces telling them not to get in her way.

"Well I've never much liked watching people operate anyway." Kankuro turned to his younger brother, removing his mask. "So I never figured you'd be one to dig the pink haired chicks."

Gaara, still staring at the door, couldn't help but be grateful it hadn't been Temari. He briefly turned his eyes to his brother. "How many 'pink haired chicks' do you know Kankuro?"

If he was honest with himself he knew he should be thinking about the impending meeting but he couldn't with Sakura injured. He was grateful to Kankuro for some distraction.

"Well... one, but that's not my point..." He smirked. "Temari will be so disappointed." He chuckled at Gaara's questioning face. "She was planning on setting Sakura up; I don't think she included you in her list of approved candidates."

There was a pause as Gaara returned to staring at the door, loathing its existence.

"She wasn't hurt that bad," a reassuring hand gripped his shoulder, "you know that kind of injury is child's play for the medics from Konoha." Using a little more force than necessary Kankuro pulled Gaara away from the door and pushed him into a chair facing it. "Besides, I want to torment you with endless questions so I know what to tell Temari."

The sour look he got from that statement gave Kankuro endless pleasure. "You can't tell Temari."

Deflated and confused Kankuro planted himself in the seat next to him. If it had been anyone else he would have assumed that _don't tell Temari_ meant _please don't tell the biggest gossip in Suna_. Not Gaara. "May I ask why?"

"Sakura believes that if people know it will diminish her position."

"And I thought she was intelligent. Everyone loves her. She's been her less than two weeks and already people are going on about her patient care and bedside manner. In fact I'm sure people would be trilled if you married her tomorrow so they can keep her forever."

"Who said anything about marriage?"

"Come to think of it if you get married tomorrow Temari would have a heart attack. You'd better give her a week; I suppose that would give the bride some recovery time. Plus the Hokage will want to attend."

"Kankuro _what-?_" Gaara blinked when he saw Kankuro was still smirking.

"Totally took the bait there." He chortled as Gaara's eye twitched, which was probably a first. "After all our years of searching, I've finally found your weakness." It did come as something of a surprise that this was it. It wasn't like he'd never been with a girl before; Sakura just seemed to be more of a soft spot than the others had been.

The door they were facing opened abruptly revealing the two kunoichi hidden behind it.

Now everyone in all the hidden villages knew that Konoha had superior medical ninjutsu, but not many got to witness it firsthand. So to see someone who had not ten minutes before been unconscious with a kunai wound, standing up looking just a little pale was an unusual sight.

"You know the drill Sakura, no getting yourself stabbed again for at least a week."

"Oh but Ino you know how much I love to get horrific injuries. This is why I carry spare clothes."

Ino turned away from Sakura for a moment. "I hope you two are listening to this. Forehead needs to keep out of trouble for a little while." She flushed before adding,"Uhm, Kazekage-sama."

Sakura met his eyes a small smirk playing across her lips. "I apologise for Ino-pig Kazekage-sama, it seems in all the excitement she forgot her manners." She definitely looked a pale, but healthy enough.

"Do you remember anything about being under the imposter's jutsu?" He questioned; ready to get down to business.

The way her lips thinned told him that she did.

"Gaara you can't be thinking of questioning her now. She's literally just recovered." Kankuro interrupted, sounding scandalized.

"You could at least let her eat first." Ino added. "I've healed her wound but I can't heal blood loss, I want her to eat something, to get the colour back in her cheeks."

"Good idea; I know a great place."

"Kankuro this isn't the time. I've just summoned an emergency council meeting."

Undeterred Kankuro shrugged. "They'll take ages to get themselves organised, you know what they're like. And I bet we'll find Temari in the restaurant anyway." His smile became devious. "Unless you want me to go chat with Temari by myself."

Gaara scowled, Sakura cracked her knuckles while smiling inanely and Kankuro silently wondered which one of them would punch him.

Ino grinned taking her opportunity. "It's settled then." She grabbed Sakura's wrist. "Let's go billboard brow." Ino knew when she'd caught juicy gossip.

Kankuro followed leaving a frustrated Gaara to scowl to himself. "I hate it when they do that." He muttered before following.

* * *

><p>On the way to the restaurant Kankuro had surreptitiously moved ahead with Ino, leaving Sakura and Gaara a few meters behind.<p>

That had probably been what he'd meant when he'd muttered something about being a wingman.

"I'm assuming Kankuro knows then." Gaara nodded.

"You can thank the spy for that."

"Yeah I remember. And I'm pretty sure Ino has either figured it out or decided that she's going to try to set us up." She shook her head and chuckled. "I'm pretty sure she'll be hitting on Kankuro soon enough."

"Do you think we should make an escape attempt when they're hidden around the corner?"

"And leave them wondering what it is we're up to? I don't think so somehow. You'll just have to bear it Gaara." She rubbed her ribs absently. "Plus I don't think I'm up to running just yet."

"Are you in pain?" He moved a little closer concern visible in his eyes.

"No, I just feel a little weak. I just need to take it easy." She stopped suddenly, a troubled look crossing her features. "I liked Oto... I... was he ever real?"

Gaara stared into those wide green eyes for a moment, calculating his response. But before he could organise his thoughts she bit her lip and lowered her eyes. "Don't worry, forget I asked. I know he wasn't..." She made to continue following Ino and Kankuro but Gaara caught her arm and pulled her back to him. Tilting her head back with his other hand so he could see her eyes.

"He fooled everyone; people Oto had worked with for years and his neighbours. I saw nothing suspicious when I spoke with him." She frowned slightly but said nothing. "I guess that's not the thing upsetting you though."

She shook her head sadly. "I thought I'd made a good friend, and found a colleague I could rely on. Even though it was never real I feel," her eyes flickered over to the place where Kankuro and Ino had turned the corner before she leant forward, resting her forehead on his chest and exhaling deeply. She spoke the last word softly, so softly he barely heard it.

"_Betrayed."_

There was nothing more to be said. She had been betrayed and words like '_it'll be alright' _and _'I'm sorry'_ were meaningless.

So he simply wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her delicious smelling hair. And made a silent vow that he would never betray her.

* * *

><p>When they reached the restaurant Kankuro and Ino were waiting outside, looking quite chummy.<p>

"Temari is inside." Kankuro informed Gaara with a bright smile.

"Does she know you two are-?" Ino began with an evil grin.

"Know we're what?" Sakura cut across her in a last ditch effort to throw her off.

"Oh please, Sakura you suck at deception." _So everyone seems to be telling me_, Sakura thought dryly to herself. "You're blatantly having some kind of thing."

There was a short pause as the two women stared each other down. Gaara and Kankuro simply watched, both knowing that if they interfered they'd just get yelled at.

"Just don't tell anyone Ino." Sakura conceded finally. "That includes Temari."

"Why not?"Kankuro interjected unexpectedly from Gaara's right. "Just how long do you think Temari will stay in the dark about this?"

"And why are you so worried about people knowing anyway? It's not like it's a big terrible crime or anything." Ino added backing her into a metaphorical corner.

"Well, I -" Sakura searched for a foolproof argument.

"I don't believe that we should let this spread around." She blinked, Gaara had crossed his arms and his expression seemed pensive. She hadn't expected him to come to her defence over this. "There's a possibility that we have further security breaches in the village, I don't want Sakura targeted anymore than she will be as a high ranked medic."

"I can look after myself you know." She muttered. His eyes softened slightly as she sulked.

"Even so, it's best not to make you a more tempting target." His lips twitched. "Temari will have to be sworn to secrecy." Kankuro laughed.

"At least you've been saved from her matchmaking games."

"What about back in Konoha?" Ino questioned, clearly hoping she'd be able to gossip to at least one person.

"I can't control what happens in Konoha." Gaara responded in his usual monotone. "However I would suggest that you speak to the Hokage before spreading things around, there's always a chance that these rogues have someone in your village as well."

Now Sakura wished she could just melt into the wall. The fact that her personal life was about to be scrutinised as a security issue by Naruto, and probably Kakashi, was a little mortifying. Fortunately it did mean she wouldn't be the subject of town gossip just yet; Naruto wouldn't risk her safety like that.

Kankuro grinned, his enthusiasm renewed. "Well it's time for lunch then." He pulled Ino and Sakura into the little restaurant before they could object. Gaara sighed; he knew Kankuro was worried about the whole situation. It was why he was acting like a child. At least they'd found Temari.

He followed the others into the restaurant to see that they had already taken a seat, at the same table as Temari and Shikamaru, with Kankuro sitting beside his sister whispering in her ear.

Her eyes honed in on him when he sat down beside Sakura, who was conveniently fascinated with the ceiling, her response wasn't exactly what either of them were expecting.

"Yeah I know." She said with a casual shrug. "I was just talking about it with Shika-kun." She chuckled. "You guys are all so slow."

Kankuro stared at her mouth hanging open in surprise. "How did you-?" Everyone (with the exception of Shikamaru, who was smiling in amusement) was looking at Temari stunned by her statement.

"Well after I heard that Gaara would actually listen to her advice without complaints I knew she was in. I knew they were up to something this morning Sakura had only buttered half a slice of her toast and Gaara was using the wrong cup." She grinned. "That and the fact that Sakura was beet red when I came in." She chuckled before continuing. "After you left I went up to the office and Gaara hadn't touched his coffee _and _you hadn't even taken a single bite from your toast Sakura. Plus the office was a mess, did the inkwell and the just get in the way or something?" she shrugged again. "Anyway I figured you're both grownups now and you'd tell us when you were ready."

There was a long pause as they stared at her in amazement. Sakura was the first to break the silence. She turned to Gaara one eyebrow arched.

"You were using the wrong cup? And you said I'm a bad liar. Jeez what a rookie mistake." Everyone laughed at that, even Gaara cracked a smile.

Temari smiled as she watched her youngest brother. People assumed he didn't really have any strong emotions, but she knew how to read her little brother. He seldom looked happy, because he never really was. He had shouldered heavy burdens all his life, first being a Jinchūriki, then becoming the Kazekage.

But now... she watched as his eyes lingered on Sakura's... now there was hope.

As Sakura ate Gaara filled Temari in on the situation. Thankfully, her reaction was more helpful than Kankuro's and she immediately became serious.

Once Sakura finished Gaara gestured for his siblings to accompany him to the council hall. He turned to Sakura as he stood.

"You'd better come too Sakura. Shikamaru find Kakashi Hatake and fill him in on everything, and tell him he's to come to the meeting also."

Everyone followed him out of the restaurant, and then Shikamaru and Ino shot off to find Kakashi.

"Is the council to know about you two?" Temari asked quietly.

"It's none of their business." Gaara responded bluntly. "And with our security impaired as it is I won't be trusting them with sensitive information." His turned to address Sakura, who was trailing behind. She was still pale he noticed. "You're going to have to be questioned about your experience with the imposter. It's likely that the council won't play fair and that you'll be accused of collaborating. I'll do what I can to control them but unfortunately I don't have full control of the council."

Sakura frowned. "I'm sure I can handle a few fussy council members, I am lady Tsunade's protégée after all. She taught me a few things." She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Why don't you have full control of the council?"

"The members of the council have always objected to Gaara being the Kazekage but have never been able to do much because he has such strong support from the general populous. About a year ago they uncovered a regulation that says that prevents any Kazekage under the age of 21 to exercise full control over the village without the council's guidance." Temari explained.

"They're dreading his next birthday, they were hoping to unseat him before now but he's still got strong support and when he turns 21 he can disband the council and appoint new members." Kankuro added with a grim smile.

"Just another month." Temari sighed.

Gaara continued walking, focusing his attention on his sand, which was returning to him from his room. Thanks to the fools on the council he still had to wear his official robes for meetings. So in situations like this he had to send out a trickle of sand to collect them.

He felt a hand touch his sleeve and looked down. Sakura was now walking beside him, a firm set to her mouth that told him she was ready for anything. She didn't even register surprise when Gaara ducked to the side to change into his official robes although she did give him an appraising look as he returned to her side.

They walked the rest of the way to the council chambers in silence.

Kakashi was waiting for them by the doors.

"Shikamaru filled me in on the situation Kazekage-sama."

"Good, I want you to represent Konoha's interests during the meeting. I'll appreciate any advice you can offer."

They proceeded into the foyer of the building. Gaara had always been disgusted by the opulence of the place. The marble for the floors had to be shipped in from the land of Lightning, and the leather on the seats in the waiting area was made in the land of Fire. Even the crystal decorations hanging from the lights had to be brought in from the land of Earth. Only the sandstone carvings had come from their own land. As the Kazekage, Gaara supported trade with other lands, but not if it was to the detriment of their own economy.

The council members themselves drifted around in expensive clothes all day, doing little to earn their keep. Even during the current state of affairs, with half of the civilians in Suna living in temporary homes, they had the cheek to ask for new furnishings.

Halfway across the foyer a realisation suddenly struck him. It was such a shock that he nearly stopped dead in the middle of the hall.

Only Sakura noticed the slight break in his pace and the way his hands suddenly curled into fists

They reached the large double doors that would lead them into the council chamber and Gaara finally stopped, turning to Sakura.

She could see that he'd clicked, and there was no time to talk to him.

"You need to wait here until you're summoned Haruno-chan." He told her formally. She could see the concern in his eyes and the tense set to his lips. He began to turn away.

"Wait." She reached out suddenly grasping his wrist. Everyone stared at her; grabbing the Kazekage was not the done thing. "I just... sorry, Kazekage-sama, I forgot myself." She released his wrist and took a step back.

His face remained perfectly blank as he looked her in the eye. She had no problem pretending to be an abashed subordinate who just got carried away. After all seeing him in full Kazekage robes left her feeling just a little intimidated by him.

There was a short pause as he maintained eye contact, then he nodded and proceeded into the chamber.

The others followed; Kakashi gave her a lingering look as he followed. She nodded to him once and then he to disappeared into the hall leaving her alone to wait.

She stared at the doors for a long moment after they shut, feeling a tight knot forming in her stomach.

* * *

><p>Kakashi was deep in thought as he entered the council chamber. The situation seemed precarious to him, the council was clearly at odds with the Kazekage, something that had been stamped out in Konoha by the time Naruto became Hokage.<p>

The Fifth had faced opposition, and in some ways so had the Third, but never to the degree that it had truly diminished their power. For Tsunade the opposition had even acted as a counterbalance at times.

But here the council was actively restricting the Kazekage despite the fact that he had the support of his people.

He watched as Gaara took his seat and called the council to session. More importantly he watched the members of the council; he didn't miss their mutinous glares and closed postures.

"This meeting has been called due to a severe breach in our security," Gaara began, "the night before last it was brought to my attention that Selenia Uchino had been attacked using a restricted Konoha medical ninjutsu and placed in a coma. I immediately sent out ANBU to investigate the matter and this morning I was informed that the body of Oto Uchino was found secreted in his own home." This was the first time Kakashi had heard these details, and frankly he was surprised that someone would make such a basic error he would have destroyed the body immediately.

"Upon examination it was evident that Uchino was killed several weeks ago."

"No one reported him missing?" An elderly council member inquired. "How can the death of one of your shinobi escape your notice?" He sneered at Gaara. Despite his newfound dislike for Gaara, thanks to the fact that he'd started fooling around with his Sakura, he still wanted felt an urge to punch the man's lights out for being so disrespectful. Gaara's face remained passive.

"A spy from the group of rogue-nin that attacked the village had taken his place using an unknown transformation jutsu." Gaara explained. "Obviously once we found the body he lost his cover and he was dealt with."

Another member of the council leaned forward. "Well that sounds like he was killed. Surely you wanted him brought in for questioning." Condescending, but reasonable.

"He took a hostage when he was confronted." Kakashi had to hand it to Gaara he wasn't letting the council's manner get to him in any way. "In order to protect that hostage he was eliminated."

"But the information could have saved countless lives." The condescending man countered.

For the first time Gaara allowed his expression to change. A tiny twitch of his lips. Amusement maybe?

"If the hostage had been killed it would have severely harmed relations with the hidden leaf. The Hokage would be furious if his best medic were harmed while in our care."

A few of the council members exchanged glances before the disrespectful man spoke.

"On the topic of the leaf medic, you said a restricted Konoha jutsu was used on Selenia Uchino." His eyes flickered warily to Kakashi for a moment. "How can this be explained? It seems to me that the leaf could be mixed up in this."

"It is true that the spy learned the jutsu from Haruno Sakura, however she did not release the technique to him willingly." Gaara had come to her defence much quicker than Kakashi could. "The spy possessed a special Genjutsu which allowed him to temporarily possess her knowledge without her even being aware of it."

There was some murmuring among the council members, and then a woman who looked like she might shuffle off her mortal coil at any moment spoke.

"The leaf medic needs to be brought in for questioning."

Gaara nodded and gestured to Temari.

"Temari please summon Haruno-san."

Kakashi couldn't stop himself from getting a little excited. These people needed to be taught a little respect.

And as Lady Tsunade's favourite apprentice and assistant Sakura knew a thing or two about dealing with stuffy old council members.

* * *

><p>Temari spotted Sakura instantly as she edged out of the chamber. She was already getting to her feet and her expression was set.<p>

The expression surprised her. Sakura had never struck her as a pushover, but now she looked determined. This was a moment in which Temari was reminded that Sakura wasn't just some medic.

She was a kunoichi.

And she had a plan.

* * *

><p><em>I actually rewrote a huge chunk of this, so let me know if there are any continuity problems within the chapter but most of all let me know what you think, I did so enjoy hearing theories so knock yourselves out with that too =P<em>


	10. Questions, Answers, Promises

**_Edit; 23/08/11 just a few extra bits in the latter part of the chapter, to get a little more feeling into it_**

_finished it in one sitting, I am on fire this week... loved the reviews I got for the last chapter, I also find it a little annoying when Sakura is always pathetic so I had to get her being a bit more bad ass for this story_

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><p>Kakashi looked on as Temari escorted Sakura into the council chamber and indicated that she should stand in the space that allowed her to face the council as well as the Kazekage.<p>

He didn't miss that her eyes went straight to him the second she entered the room.

Gaara addressed her first.

"Sakura Haruno, you have been summoned before the council for questioning about your encounter with the rogue shinobi who held you hostage earlier today."

"I understand Kazekage-sama."

"The council may now address any questions to Haruno-san."

The disrespectful man went first. "Leaf medic, how is it that the spy was able to take you hostage so easily?" He sneered.

There was a long pause as Sakura looked at the man. She didn't even glare, just looked. But Kakashi knew that look. "Haruno-san." She said simply.

The man looked confused. "Answer the question medic." He pressed scowling.

Irritation slipped into her features. "Who do you think you're talking to?" She burst out suddenly, sounding scarily like the fifth. "My name is Sakura Haruno, I am the 'leaf medic' who killed Sasori of the Red Sand. I am the apprentice of Lady Tsunade, and one of the best medical ninja from the hidden leaf." She tapped her foot once in irritation and hairline cracks spread across the expensive floor. "I won't be spoken to like common pond scum."

There was a long pause as the council members looked at each other. Apparently they were just realising she would not be someone they could walk on.

The disrespectful one spoke again. "My apologies, Haruno-san, may I humbly ask how it was that you were apprehended so easily?" His voice was saturated with sarcasm, but Sakura chose to ignore it.

"The spy wielded a powerful Genjutsu that temporarily disabled me."

"What were you doing with the spy when he took you hostage? Trading medical ninjutsu?" he asked snidely.

Gaara interjected wearily. "We have already covered this, Jenra-san, Haruno-san has not been willingly passing information to the enemy."

"The Genjutsu can be used to obtain the knowledge and skills of the one under the jutsu," Sakura elaborated. "I was unaware that I was under it the first time, though I suffered mild memory loss. The second time I knew it was happening so I managed to garner some information from the man before he was killed." As she should, Kakashi thought smugly, she _was_ a Genjutsu type after all.

The wispy woman, who seemed to be a fairly neutral council member, leant forward. "Like what?"

"How he was able to avoid detection for so long, and that he was from a group of wandering ninja who have grown to resent the hidden villages." From his vantage point he could see that Sakura was watching the council very carefully but subtly. He also saw the way several of the council members shifted.

"How was he able to remain undetected?" The older woman asked.

"A special transformation jutsu, it requires the body of the one they are transforming into to remain intact and in a fixed location. The transformation is undetectable once in place and allows the user to mimic personality perfectly."

The woman nodded. "Thank you Haruno-san."

"I still see no evidence that you weren't working with the spy. What is there to say that you didn't put that woman in a coma?" The condescending one this time. Kakashi could see that out for the twenty council members these three were the most vocal.

"I have secured several witness statements that confirm Sakura did not leave the hospital the morning Selenia Uchino was attacked. I can also personally confirm her whereabouts from the mid morning onwards." Gaara interjected.

"Then she may have taught the spy the jutsu." Jenra argued.

"Forgive me," Sakura addressed to Gaara, "But at their current level none of the medics in this village would be able to learn that specific jutsu, considering that the spy wasn't a medical specialist it wouldn't be plausible for him to have learnt it."

Gaara nodded. "Haruno-san, you are not under suspicion in this matter."

That was when Jenra stepped over a line. "Really Kazekage?" everyone noted the dropped honorific. "Maybe if you think that then you are not seeing things clearly, she is very much under suspicion. If you cannot see clearly then maybe you aren't suitab-"

Kakashi had forgotten how angry Sakura could get sometimes. Her eye twitched as Jenra dropped the honorific. And her fists began to ball up as his tone became steadily more disrespectful.

Suddenly Jenra went pale and stopped talking.

Probably something to do with the fact that Sakura had marched over to him and, before anyone could react, lifted him off his chair by his collar.

"How dare you show such disrespect to your Kazekage. If you were part of the leaf council I would have pounded you through a wall by now." There was total silence, apart from Temari's sudden coughing fit.

Kakashi noted that Kankuro now looked like he was suffering from severe constipation, and Gaara, well he looked the same as always.

She dropped the now white man back in his seat. "Good, I like you better with your mouth shut." She marched out without another word.

The meeting was uneventful after that, and ten minutes later they were all back in Gaara's office.

Sakura had been waiting for them there, feet up on the desk, rocking idly from side to side in the chair behind the desk.

She grinned up at them as they entered.

"That was fun, I should do that every day." Gaara smiled slightly as he shimmied her out of his chair.

"It was certainly informative."

She smiled wanly as she perched herself on the arm of his chair. "I'm glad my antics were helpful."

"It was an act?" Temari asked, taken aback.

Kakashi nodded his eye crinkling. "Didn't you notice? Sakura can lie and cheat with the best of them when she needs to."

Gaara's lips twitched. "So I'd been told."

"I don't get how it was helpful though." Kankuro mused. "It lifted my spirits though."

"The council orchestrated the attack." Gaara informed his siblings solemnly. "If you were a group of rogue ninja with a spy in the village, would you attack the civilian district?" He shook his head. "At first I thought it was just bad luck all round, they had failed to cripple our forces, and we sustained huge damage in a vulnerable area."

He looked up at Sakura and sighed heavily. "I realised as we were about to walk into the council chamber that they wouldn't have missed their target if they had a spy in the village. So that meant they must have wanted to leave our military intact." He nodded to Sakura. "I was beginning to suspect and then Sakura confirmed it for me."

"Did you genuinely think I'd lost my mind when I grabbed Gaara's wrist?" Sakura asked with a wry smile. "It was the only way I could think to communicate with him. I was able to use chakra infusion to just shunt a little of my mental presence in."

Everyone seemed to be surprised by how seamlessly the two had worked together.

"Right now we're supposed to think that the rogues attacked because they resent the hidden villages. They've actually been hired by members of the council, although there may be someone else entirely manipulating them." Sakura explained her tone subdued. The situation was definitely on a knife edge.

"Well if the council is responsible for the whole thing then their motivation is obvious." Temari murmured. "But if it wasn't..."

Their discussion went on for hours, endlessly going over who could be involved, what their motivation could be, how they could uncover them.

By the time it was starting to get dark everyone was frustrated. All they had decided was that Kakashi and his squad should head back to the leaf to brief Naruto on the situation.

They left Gaara's office with low morale, but hoping that they could at least get a good night of rest.

"Time for your chakra infusion?" Sakura asked as Gaara reached his bedroom door.

He shook his head. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep without it but Sakura was still a little pale and he didn't want to cause her more strain.

"Don't waste your energy tonight."

She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow. "I have enough energy for chakra infusion Gaara, and it's not a waste. We all need to be fresh tomorrow." She pushed past him into his room and jumped on his bed before he could object. "I'll wait for you to change."

Sighing, but not entirely minding that she had returned to his bed, Gaara headed into his bathroom, changing quickly. He supposed he should be grateful that she wouldn't accept no for an answer.

He sauntered back out and sat on the bed facing her.

Her demeanour had completely changed; she seemed strangely hesitant as she moved closer and placed her fingers on his face.

He felt more relaxed before she even began, and once it started he felt his body begin letting go of the tension. But his head was still in disarray.

He tried everything he could to tell himself it could wait until morning, that there was no point holding onto the ball of stress.

After just five minutes he knew it was hopeless.

"Sakura, stop." He reached up and placed his hands around hers. She frowned and opened her eyes blearily. "I still won't be able to sleep."

He watched as those deep pools of green became more alert. She frowned again.

"Gaara -"

"No, it's ok just go to bed." He looked away, hoping she would drop it.

But she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"No, Gaara it's not ok." She turned his face to her but he still couldn't look at her, his eyes fixed stubbornly to the side. Despite the fact that he trusted her, he couldn't let her see him weak. She didn't need to bear his burdens. "The situation sucks and I know you're feeling the strain. But Gaara we will get to the bottom of this." He finally turned his eyes to hers. Her eyes shone as they looked so hard back into his. "We will find out who and why, and we'll set everything straight." Her fingers ran across the kanji on his forehead and she stroked his cheek. A small crease appeared between her delicate pink eyebrows. "It won't be easy," her lips twitched into a minute, sad smile, "but we'll make it through."

In that moment, he was so grateful. She didn't look afraid or consoling.

She looked certain.

None of the other women Gaara had been involved with had been like her. They were the ones that needed looking after, the ones that looked to him for support and comfort, something he had been none too good at. None of them had been strong enough to take care of him. None of them had understood him well enough to reassure him.

But this pink haired kunoichi was doing just that. He could feel it. She saw him. She was healing him.

He trailed his hands up her arms, keeping eye contact. He wanted her to know what she was doing to him, how she was making him feel.

But he didn't have the words for that. Nothing he could say to her would ever articulate it right. Maybe time would change that, maybe in ten years time he would know how to say it, but for now there was only one way he might tell her.

He moved forward and his lips met hers. Tentatively, gently.

It was a question, and she answered with one of her own.

They made eye contact for another second before moving in again.

It was nothing like the first time they had kissed. Then it was heated and lustful, acknowledgement of attraction.

This wasn't just about sex as it had been then. This was... connection.

As Gaara lowered Sakura onto the mattress his lips continued conveying to her what he didn't know how to say. Question, answer, an admission, a promise.

The heat was there; his body was tingling and burning for hers. He could feel her heart thrumming rapidly against his ribs. They were both sighing in pleasure as their bodies connected in all the right places.

Sakura's fingers found their way under his shirt and they stroked his bare torso and the garment was soon removed.

Gaara slowly unzipped the front of Sakura's top, and her back arched as his lips roamed the exposed skin and his fingers hooked under the top of her shorts.

He slowed then, and his lips met hers. Another question. Her eyes were clear and her expression was utterly open. Her fingers brushed the kanji on his forehead again before she pulled him down for another soft kiss. An answer. A promise.

He kissed her throat as he pulled her shorts away. Neither of them remembered when his trousers were removed and in truth neither of them cared.

They lost themselves in each other then.

She understood.

* * *

><p><em>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! seriously this bit keeps making me spack out a little bit...<em>

_I've got to get better control over these people, they seem to get a little out of hand. When I did my first draft of this bit they just had a bit of emotional kissing, it seems to have escalated ever so slightly._

_anyway i'm sure my my faithful reviewers will have a lot to say now =s_


	11. Eye of the Storm

_Ok so chapter 11 is finally up fun fun fun_

* * *

><p>Morning arrived quietly for Sakura. She felt no confusion as she woke, and she wasn't wrapped around the man beside her in the way that was often told in love stories.<p>

She could feel the bare skin of his back against hers, and his deep even breathing was soothing to her ears. She stretched languidly and rolled over.

She peeked over his shoulder and smiled softly. His face was completely unguarded, mouth slightly open and his jaw completely relaxed. He might have been a different person if his features weren't so distinctive. Even with the kanji hidden the face was just so completely him.

His eyes flickered under his eyelids and he sighed softly. He would be awake soon, she guessed, so she rested her chin on his shoulder and waited patiently.

He knew she was watching him before he was really awake. When he finally found his way to the surface he found her resting her chin on his shoulder, waiting.

He stretched and rolled over so he could get a better look at her. Neither of them felt the need to say anything. It felt right, like every day leading up to that one should have begun like that.

It was as normal as breathing.

Sakura grinned, suddenly struck by a funny thought.

"Naruto's going to kiiiill you."

All the stress that had built up over the week momentarily forgotten, they burst out laughing.

Eventually they had to admit that it was time to get back to reality, so they dressed (Gaara collecting Sakura's clothes from her room) and went down to the kitchen.

Everyone else was there to see them arrive. Literally, everyone. Kankuro waggled his eyebrows at Gaara; Temari rolled her eyes at his foolishness. Ino waggled her eyebrows at Sakura; Shikamaru rolled his eyes at her foolishness.

And Kakashi shot a death look at Gaara as he slowly sharpened an already razor sharp kunai.

Sakura immediately took charge of the problem. "Something wrong, Ino, Kankuro?" She asked casually, heading to the fridge, slapping the back of Kakashi's head on the way past.

Maybe a little too hard because his head rebounded off the table.

She turned back briefly. "Sorry Kakashi, I thought you knew how to duck." Kankuro immediately clammed up. He knew it didn't matter who he was to Gaara, she could snap him in two and heal him up so she could have another go. The threat of physical violence was usually enough to silence most men.

Ino persisted. "I heard you two tested the bedsprings last night Sakura." She waggled her eyebrows again.

"And?" She had to admit, it surprised her a little that she didn't feel at all embarrassed by the situation. "At least we're getting some Ino, how have your bedsprings been lately?"

Ino's mouth popped open and she flushed.

Shikamaru chuckled. "Pay up." He drawled casually. Kankuro grumbled and dropped some coins in the offered palm. "You too Ino."

Looking a little stunned Ino did the same.

"You guys need to get a life." Sakura sighed. "Kakashi put the kunai down before you hurt yourself; you've already bashed your head on the table."

Shikamaru chuckled again. "It's alright for you. It's a drag but we're leaving soon, so the only annoyance you'll have to deal with is this one." He gestured to Kankuro who scowled.

Ino was pensive now. Stung, yes, but also pensive. Sakura hadn't been like this for over a year and a half. Sasuke's death had affected her deeply. She had regained a certain vitality that she'd lacked all that time.

She would have to thank Gaara for that.

It was decided that they would see the three to the village boundary before Sakura returned to the hospital and Gaara finished that paperwork. Temari and Kankuro were to begin their investigation.

Most of Suna was still asleep as they walked to the border, despite the fact that they felt like they'd really slept in. But then again shinobi were usually awake a few hours before civilians.

Sakura was quietly scolding Kakashi about something, leaving Gaara to trail behind, watching the rest of the group. Ino glanced back at him a few times looking a little uncomfortable.

He ignored it. If she had something to say she would inevitably say it. People from Konoha were invariably like that.

Sure enough she lagged back to walk nearer to him.

"Uh, sorry I called you an idiot yesterday." He frowned. Had she called him an idiot? More importantly, was that really all she wanted to say?

She continued looking uncomfortable.

"I, uh, just wanted to say that, well Sakura seems a whole lot happier than she's been since Sasuke died and I'm grateful to you. For, you know, making her happy." She said it in a rush, blushing just a little. "It seems like whatever you have together is developing really quickly though, and I don't like that..." She squirmed uncomfortably as she walked. "But you fixed her."

He walked in silence for a moment. Watching Sakura chat with Temari and Shikamaru.

"I thought she was the one healing me." He murmured, more to himself than to Ino.

After a few more minutes they stepped onto the path that would lead them straight to the main entrance of the village.

Ordinarily it was possible to walk straight from the main entrance of the Kazekage mansion to the village entrance, but the main road was crawling with stone masons making repairs, so they had skirted around to avoid them.

Gaara approached Kakashi feeling just the tiniest bit of trepidation. He may be the Kazekage, but this was still the legendary copy-ninja who probably wanted to neuter him.

"I arranged for some supplies to be prepared for you at the main gate."

Kakashi turned to regard him with one black eye before nodding. There was a long pause as Kakashi stared Gaara down with an unreadable expression.

"If she gets hurt because of you." He didn't need to finish his sentence. The message there was clear. "She seems happy." He sighed, his one eye crinkling into a little smile. "I can't guarantee that Naruto won't come charging across the desert to Rasengan you into oblivion but I'll do what I can to stop him."

"You can tell him that his face will have a run in with my fist if he tries it." Sakura called as she approached. Evidently she'd been listening to the conversation, or at least the last part of it. "And he'll spend the rest of his life pretending he was scarred in battle."

"I'll be sure to tell him that." Kakashi said with a chuckle.

They reached the break in the wall that served as the village entrance and their progress slowed slightly; there was still some debris around and the area was crawling with shinobi checking for traps.

Matsuri was waiting for them on the far side of the wall. She bowed to Gaara as they approached.

"Kazekage-sama, the supplies have been prepared as requested." She gestured to the bundles that seemed to consist mainly of water bags, which were heavy but invaluable in the desert.

Ino chuckled to Sakura as she examined the bundles. "I see Lady Tsunade still likes her sake imported from Suna." Gaara made that little _hmph_ noise that constituted as his own chuckle and Matsuri nodded with a smile.

"We always include a bottle whenever people are headed for the leaf."

Sakura shook her head with a laugh. "Oh heaven forbid that she might spend even a second of her retirement sober."

Ino picked up the pack with a shrug."She earned it. And she'll probably kill us if she knew that we were standing around when there's sake to be delivered, so we should get moving." The others had already picked up their packs and were looking a little awkward. Like they weren't sure if they wanted to hurry or not.

Temari pulled Shikamaru to the side for a quick embrace, and some nagging about him being too lazy and to visit more often. Ino pulled Sakura into a big hug and then Kakashi, who had never really grasped the whole _Sakura-is-a-grown-woman-who-doesn't-appreciate-being-patted-on-the head-like-a-small-child_ thing, patted Sakura's pink locks awkwardly. They each bowed to Gaara and then they were off, rapidly melting into the distance.

They watched for a moment before Gaara spoke.

"Temari, Kankuro, time to get to work." He stated, still looking out over the desert. They nodded and started running back into the village. "Matsuri," the girl practically leapt into Gaara's arms as he addressed her, or at least that was Sakura's interpretation of her reaction, "I want a check in point set up here immediately, all reports to go through my office every night."

She nodded and ran off to carry out his orders.

Gaara turned away from the desert to look back over Suna. "We'd better get some work done Sakura." He gestured for her to follow.

They took the long route to the hospital, walking down quiet alleys. Neither of them were particularly eager to get back to work, with all that was going on it would be difficult to concentrate and the hours were bound to drag as they waited for Temari and Kankuro to come up with some information.

Their hands brushed together as they walked.

"Gaara..." Sakura ventured, disliking the sudden feeling of unease coming over her. He turned his eyes to her to indicate he was listening. "Would you send a message ahead to Konoha? I just..."

He nodded. "I'll send one as soon as I get back to my office." He'd had that feeling also.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw her shake her head ever so slightly.

"Do you think whoever is behind this will make their move soon?" Her question was tinged with an amused kind of impatience. "Because this whole, not getting a moment of peace thing is getting really old."

His lips twitched. It was true that their generation had been constantly plagued by one thing after another. Be it rogue ninja trying to destroy villages for their various means or rampaging Uchiha trying to take over the world.

"This is the life of a shinobi." He reminded her gently.

"Shinobi or not, I think it's high time these nut jobs gave it a rest." She grinned broadly. "I've seen Konoha brought to its knees more times than I can count," for a moment, Gaara had to wonder why that was something to grin about, "but it's still standing stronger than ever. Even after Pein flattened it." Her grin faded into something softer and she took his hand, squeezing it gently. "That's how I know everything will be ok."

He squeezed her hand, drawing strength from her.

"Careful, you'll start shouting _believe it_ at the end of every sentence." He muttered.

She shot a playful fist at his arm.

* * *

><p>The next few days passed in relative peace in Suna but they all knew that they were in the eye of the storm.<p>

The storm that was finally reaching Konoha.

Naruto was standing at the end of his old sensei's bed, again.

Just that morning Shizune had burst into his office announcing that Kakashi's team had returned and that all three of them were being treated for serious injuries.

He stared at Kakashi's prone form for a long time. Shikamaru had already told him how the fight had gone down; 20 ninja with facial markings that identified them as the ones that had attacked Suna had ambushed them a few miles short of the border. Much fighting had ensued, Kakashi used the Mangekyou and they had retreated.

But not before they had all received serious injuries.

He sensed one of the nurses approaching the room, probably to make sure that no one had overstayed visiting hours. When she entered there was no sign he had been standing there.

A minute or so later Naruto was sitting down behind his desk, considering the reasoning behind the attack. Ino had already told him that the Suna council seemed to be involved with the attack on Suna, and it had been orchestrated to make Gaara look like an incompetent leader.

Now these rogue ninja were attacking Konoha shinobi. It seemed unwise, why bring another hidden village into it.

Then there was the message he'd received from the village elders, demanding to know why he had only sent a three man squad through a danger zone. It was interesting that they even knew the full details of the attack. Considering that he hadn't even spoken to the council about recent events.

It was especially interesting to see that they'd known about Sakura's behaviour in the Suna council meeting before he had.

Fortunately for him the elders had no power in Konoha apart from their ability to spread gossip. And apparently their ability to know what was happening in other villages before he did.

They even had the gossip from the Land of Lightning.

"Hinata." He called suddenly.

Hinata had spent as much time working in the Hokage tower as he had over the past week. He knew she was mainly doing it because she wanted him to see how much he could depend on her, and she'd proven herself to be invaluable.

She'd just been passing his office, so she entered the room immediately wearing an expectant expression.

"Send these letters to the Raikage, Tsuchikage and Mizukage." He instructed, indicating the scrolls in front of him. "Do it personally, don't let anyone else even see them."

She nodded, frowning delicately. "Of course, do you need any seals placed on them?" Naruto smiled at her.

"It can't hurt to have another set of seals on them." She nodded and collected the scrolls from the desk, tucking them into her jacket.

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes, fetch grandma Tsunade for me, I'm going to take a trip."

* * *

><p><em>Don't you just love a bit of grown up Naruto =]<em>

_I'd just like to say that i'm chuffed that this fic has had over 10,000 hits since i posted the first chapter, which i find absolutely staggering, so thank you all for that!_

_Reviews are lovely, I hope you'll keep guessing and sending me nice words, they really keep me going =]_


	12. Activity Night

Gaara woke with a start.

He was confused for a moment; he knew he hadn't been dreaming. And Sakura was still sleeping soundly beside him. The room hadn't been disturbed. It was half twelve, so he hadn't even been in bed for more than an hour.

Rubbing his eyes blearily he tried to focus on what had woken him.

Ah, there it was; a familiar chakra presence in his distant awareness.

He propped himself onto his elbow to look down at Sakura's sleeping form, eyes tracing the pale skin of her back and shoulders as he tried to decide if he should wake her.

After all, he imagined there was a possibility she might try to hit him for disturbing her beauty sleep. Not that she needed beauty sleep. Or that she was that shallow for that matter, maybe she'd just be someone who resisted being woken.

He frowned. There was a good possibility he was just turning into a bumbling idiot just looking at her, or it could have been that he was still half asleep.

He leaned over her and shook her shoulder gently.

No response, of course. She'd told him just that day that Kakashi had trained team 7 to wake up to hostile attacks only, which explained why she hadn't woken up when he'd started moving around that morning.

He poked her ribs experimentally. She twitched and knocked his had away, he grinned and did it again, to the same response.

The third time she made that little angry noise half way between a hmm and a grr, and caught his hand.

"Sleeping Gaara." She mumbled almost unintelligibly.

He poked her with his other hand. "I know. But I thought you'd like to know something."

With a great sigh Sakura rolled over to face him, one eyebrow cocked. "Something like?"

"Naruto just crossed into the desert." He watched as her face changed. First almost pleased, then confusion and then—

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT MORON THINKING? HE CAN'T LEAVE THE VILLAGE AT A TIME LIKE THIS!" She exploded, making Gaara glad that he'd jumped back before she'd started shouting.

He could hear movement down the corridor as both Temari and Kankuro rushed to his room, presumably thinking that he was under attack.

A split second before they burst into the room Gaara threw the sheet around Sakura, remembering that she wasn't exactly dressed for company.

"Gaara what-?" Temari began before taking in the scene. Clearly they weren't under attack. Although Gaara had practically tied Sakura in the sheets and they were both looking a little dishevelled. Well, extremely dishevelled.

Kankuro looked like he would have laughed if he hadn't been woken the way he had.

"Will you two keep your kinky little games quiet!" He exclaimed.

"We were not-" Gaara began.

"Sure looks like you were." Temari cut across him, she was a little more amused than Kankuro, but mostly because she always woke up fresh and shiny. "Although I'll admit that was a rather angry noise."

"The Hokage just entered the desert." He explained. Sakura remained quiet only because Gaara had quickly put a hand over her mouth, before she alerted the ANBU. "Much to Sakura's consternation."

"I'll tell someone to be expecting him." Kankuro had already lost interest and was pottering his way back to his room. Temari grinned at Sakura before she too turned to leave. "You should keep it down, if the ANBU burst in you'll have a hard time explaining why you're playing sleep over." She shut the door leaving them once again alone.

Gaara released the now calmer Sakura, giving her a look that clearly said; _overreaction, seriously_.

She smacked her forehead. "What an idiot, he'd better not just be on his way because he heard about us. And if he came alone, I'm going to kill him."

"He's not alone he's-" Sakura watched his face fall. Suddenly he leapt off the bed and grabbed some of his clothes. As he moved he spoke the words that made her blood run cold. "He's under attack."

He was dressed quicker than she could have imagined possible. Before she could even comprehend his words, he was half way out the door before she could use her brain.

"Wait Gaara." She cried, tumbling out of bed and grabbing the first items of clothing that came to hand, a bra, his night shirt and her shorts.

He'd paused to watch. "Make sure you're ready, I'll get my gourd, meet me downstairs." He dashed down the hall and she grabbed her ninja tools from beside the bed, making only a cursory search for her own clothes.

They were probably going to have to work on that throwing their clothes everywhere thing.

Within two minutes they were approaching the gates. Gaara had told Temari and Kankuro to assemble some reinforcements to catch up with them.

"Gaara, how far are they?" Sakura gasped as they exited the village at full pelt. He didn't answer for a moment. "Gaara, how far?" She asked more forcefully.

"About a mile, but the fight is coming in our direction." He glanced back at her looking down at her feet. "When we enter this battle, you should use the walk on water jutsu; it will allow you to move quicker over sand."

She looked down at her feet incredulously. "Now why didn't I think of that?" She grumbled to herself, applying just enough chakra to her feet to keep herself from sinking in. With a burst of speed she drew level with Gaara, wondering how he'd managed to dress himself so quickly despite the rush.

It wouldn't be until later that Gaara would reluctantly admit that his trousers were inside out, and his body armour was back to front.

Before long Sakura could sense the chakra flaring out from the battle ahead, just beyond the sand dune directly in front of them. And then they were at the top of the sand dune.

They were heavily outnumbered. She could see Naruto in the thick of it, and the three other leaf shinobi who she could identify as Shizune, Hinata and Tenten.

And 25 enemy shinobi.

Well, 24 if you excluded the one that had just been Rasenganed in the face.

Gaara saw Sakura's face relax as she looked over the battle field. After the fourth great shinobi world war, no one viewed '_outnumbered'_ in the same way. They could handle four enemies each without any difficulty.

"You two just going to stand there and watch?" They heard Naruto shouting over the sound of kunai and shuriken.

Sakura leapt from the top of the sand dune drawing her chakra, slamming it down into the sand next to Tenten, who was bogged down in a fist fight freeing her to jump back as the sand exploded upwards.

As the sand settled Sakura felled a man to her right with a punch the ribs and parried the man on her left with a kunai.

Gaara remained on the dune, picking his targets carefully, only moving to dodge the occasional water style jutsu.

The numbers of their opponents dwindled astonishingly quickly. Only seven remaining.

Sakura chased down one of them ruthlessly. He dodged and ducked for all he was worth as her fists came perilously close. He sneered as she missed time and time again.

"What's wrong? Am I too fast for you little gir-" He bounced off a wall of sand and Sakura's fist connected, turning the wall behind him to dust.

Six left.

"That's enough." A new voice travelled easily across the battle field, which was now surrounded by raised sand on all sides. The voice was distinctly feminine, not in that girly high way.

The owner of the voice was standing on the dune directly opposite Gaara, but with the moon behind her, her face was left in shadow. The only visible features were blood red hair and a balanced kunoichi physique.

"You have disappointed me Zakkun." She said quietly, her voice had a muted quality yet still held a threat.

The six remaining rogues retreated to stand before her. One of them spoke, with a stammer.

"M-mistress you told us to attack those who travelled between Suna and Konoha." He bowed his head as her head turned slightly allowing some of the moonlight to reveal cream skin.

"There was an exception to that was there not?"

"Y-yes Mistress, but the Hokage was using a transparency jutsu we did not know he was among them." The man was visibly shaking.

"You know I don't like excuses."

Fresh blood splattered across the sand. Zakkun fell sickeningly backward down the dune, the look of terror still fixed on his face.

The only indication that she'd even moved was the movement of her hair.

Naruto clenched his teeth at her abuse of leadership.

"Choiya, take your brother's remaining men away from here, don't fail me as he did." She droned dispassionately.

The man who had turned to watch his comrade slide down the slope jumped and nodded, terror etched into his features. The five remaining shinobi disappeared over the top of the dune.

"So you're the one behind all this." Naruto growled.

Her head moved again, directing shadowed eyes down at Naruto. "You're trying to unseat all the Kage aren't you?"

Sakura frowned as she looked at Naruto and then back up at the strange kunoichi on the dune. Did he know something they didn't?

"Answer me!" He cried, lunging forward, entering sage mode. Naruto never failed to go into battle without setting a few clones for sage mode.

When he was just a meter away from her, one of her hands shot up; palm facing Naruto. He stopped dead in mid air.

"I'm not interested in a fight right now." Her hand twitched and Naruto was thrown backwards across the battle field, slamming into the dune at Gaara's feet. She turned her back on them, looking back over her shoulder, revealing one startlingly dark green eye. "But I'll be seeing you, boys." She vanished, leaving only a wisp of sand to show she'd moved.

The Naruto buried head first in the sand dune disappeared just a moment later and the real one released the transformation jutsu that had disguised him as one of the enemy Nin.

He walked past Sakura muttering '_nice shirt'_ before leaping up to stand beside Gaara. "We should take back any survivors, we need intelligence."

"Agreed."

"Sakura, Shizune, check for survivors."

There were five survivors it turned out; two of them were pretending to be dead while the other three had been knocked unconscious.

Temari arrived with some extremely disappointed reinforcements just a few minutes later and within half an hour they were back in Suna, prisoners in tow.

Within two hours the prisoners had been secured and the council members who had been poking their noses in had dispersed and they'd found their way back to Gaara's office.

Sakura finally took the opportunity to smack Naruto in the back of the head.

"What did you leave Konoha for you jerk? And travelling during the night? Idiot." If the situation hadn't been so serious Gaara might have laughed, Naruto might be the Hokage, but Sakura still treated him like the little twerp he'd been seven years ago. He leant against his desk and watched with amusement.

Naruto, who had taken the seat facing the desk, rubbed the back of his head, noting that she hadn't _really_ hit him.

"Kakashi is in a coma." He told her simply. "Ino and Shikamaru filled me in, and I realised that I was needed more here. Tsunade is watching over the village."

"They were attacked on the way back?" She asked weakly placing a hand on the desk for support. He nodded. "Kakashi over did it again?" He nodded again.

"Naruto." Gaara frowned at his Konoha counterpart. "How did you know that kunoichi is responsible for all this?"

"I have some spies keeping an eye on the village elders; the old council members. They've frequently been heard referring to the _mistress_ and as we were leaving the spy sent me a report telling me that she was with the rogue nin and that they'd been told not to attack any Kage." That explained how he'd known, and why he'd been travelling with the transparency jutsu.

"And how do you know she plans to unseat the Five Kage?" Sakura prodded.

"Every village seems to have a problem with incompetent leaders at the moment. Gaara is apparently incapable of protecting his village from attack; I'm apparently a moron who sends out squads that can't cope. There are similar rumours and accusations being aimed at the others. All coming from their councils and village elders." He chuckled. "The Konoha elders gave the game up, knowing news about different villages before I did. I mean they knew that you'd assaulted a Suna councilman before I did."

She grinned. "Heard about that one did you?"

His eyes narrowed. "That's not all I heard about." He shot a death glare at Gaara, whose expression remained flat. "Although not from the elders you'll be pleased to know."

There was a tense silence as they waited for him to react.

Suddenly he lunged. Before they could even think to defend themselves the exuberant Naruto was hugging them both. "I'm so happy for you guys! Believe it!" He exclaimed. He released them both and laughed at their baffled expressions. "What did you think I'd try to beat Gaara to a pulp?"

Sakura's mouth opened. She closed it again and then finally. "Well yeah. Kakashi was all sharpening kunai knives and stuff."

"Yeah Ino told me about that," he said with a laugh, "She also told me that she lost a bet with Shikamaru because you put everyone back in their place."

Gaara was still dumbstruck so Sakura continued to question Naruto's sanity in his place. "But you always used to scare guys off whenever they even looked at me."

"Because they were all losers who were totally beneath you." He grinned sheepishly. "Plus if they were spineless enough to be scared off by me and Kakashi they wouldn't have lasted long anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She practically growled at Naruto.

Gaara chuckled and they both looked at him as if they'd forgotten he was there.

It was true that someone with no backbone would probably not be good with Sakura; she'd crush them like a bug not that it was a bad thing. She was just so vital, so full of spirit that men would quite literally be brought to their knees by her fiery nature.

"Why are _you_ laughing?" She was getting a little flustered at the fact that they were seemingly ganging up on her.

"He's laughing because he knows he's more scared of you than he is of me." Naruto wriggled his eyebrows. "Because you've got him by the-"

"NARUTO!"

"What I'm just saying..." She scowled at him.

"Don't you think you should be going to bed Hokage-sama." He suppressed a chuckle at her dark remark and shrugged.

"I guess I _should_ go, wouldn't want to keep Hinata waiting." He winked and vanished.

There was a pause as they stared at the space he'd just occupied.

"Did he just say Hinata?" Sakura asked, once again baffled.

* * *

><p>Naruto appeared outside his suite (because as Hokage he had a reserved suite in the Kazekage mansion, <em>like a boss<em>) startling the woman dithering there.

"N-Naruto." Her stutter had all but vanished over the last three years, but it did have that habit of reappearing when she was startled, especially by her favourite Hokage. "I-I was just," he could see her scrambling for an excuse, "lost." She finished lamely.

He smiled knowingly at her and she blushed.

"I g-guess I'll just-" She tried to make a hasty escape but he caught her arm.

"Tea?" He offered. She smiled nervously.

"That would be nice." He led her into his suite, for tea and a chat.

* * *

><p>In Gaara's office they were still a little taken aback by Naruto's reaction to their relationship.<p>

"So do you think he's possessed?" Sakura asked blithely, coming to the conclusion that Naruto had always been the number one most unpredictable knucklehead ninja.

"I don't care." Gaara informed her wearily. "If he is we'll deal with it in the morning. Let's just go back to bed."

She smirked as they wandered back to his room. "You sound like we're an old married couple."

His lips twitched and his teal eyes obtained a new devious sparkle. "You won't be saying that in the morning."

* * *

><p><em>Ah so chapter 12 has landed, Many many things happening here, like a stupid number lol<em>

_I hope you all enjoyed Naruto's reaction, it did give me a chuckle as i was writing it._

_Thanks again to my nice people some particularly faithful names would be; Mischa Rowe, Shadow-Assassin67, Rouansi and Shiningheart of ThunderClan. You have been named, have cookies for your niceness!_


	13. Choiya

_Just a short one this time =]_

* * *

><p>Waking in the dark cave that acted as base camp, Choiya rolled over, contemplating what had happened during the night.<p>

Zakkun was dead, he now led the rogues thirty of them were now dead.

And the Mistress was _disappointed._

He picked himself up off his space on the floor, to call it a bed would have been a gross misrepresentation. Now that he was the leader of the band of rogues he wanted to speak to that woman, that woman who had murdered his brother.

He picked up his things and prepared himself to face her. He knew he'd need his wits about him; she wasn't one to be played for a fool and she knew how to get what she wanted.

Following the path his brother had taken him down many times he ran over the fight, wondering why it all had to go so wrong.

They'd come across three leave Jounin, three against thirty should have been a massacre, and they certainly had looked worried when the ambush began.

But the Hokage released that damn transparency jutsu and killed five of them before they even noticed his presence.

He'd led them his Jounin away from the ambush, heading in the direction of Suna, but Zakkun had managed to create a sand dune using his wind style jutsu.

Then to top it all off the Kazekage had arrived with the apprentice of the fifth Hokage, Sakura Haruno.

It had been a massacre alright, just not the way they were expecting.

Then the Mistress had arrived. He was surprised she'd even bothered, they were just pawns to her anyway.

He reached the entrance of the cavern she had claimed as her own and stepped inside boldly.

She wasn't guarded, she was never guarded. No one in the camp would be able to take her on anyway.

She had her back to him when he stepped in. She was quietly destroying the beautiful mahogany desk they'd gone to the effort of getting her, hacking away at it with a kunai.

Her room, or cavern as it was, was very well furnished, luxurious items adorned the walls and a large bed was situated in the corner. But like the desk they had all seen better days thanks to their owner's kunai.

The only piece left untouched was the shōgi set they had acquired for her. She had told him once that the pieces were set up from the last game she had played with her father, one of the kings was in checkmate, and the other was missing.

"Mistress." Choiya was quite proud of the fact he had managed to sound fearless, despite the fact that nothing scared him more than that woman.

She turned those dark, emerald eyes on him.

She certainly was beautiful; there was no denying her that. Too beautiful maybe. Almost clinically so.

That face of hers was perfect; it wouldn't have been out place in a portrait of angels or on the most exquisite porcelain doll. And her body curved in all the right places. She wore simple clothes, a forest green yukata and black leggings. She wore a shōgi piece on a chain around her neck. The king. It was not the king she had removed from her current board; it was from her father's set.

Choiya may not have been totally impervious to her beauty, but he was wise to it. His father had always told him that a beautiful woman could be the downfall of any man.

Zakkun had been proof of that the fool.

When they'd first come across her she'd been in a fight with some Rain ANBU, Zakkun had decided to save her, saying that they couldn't ignore a damsel in distress.

She'd sunk her claws into him then, and by the time he realised what was happening he was in too deep.

She must have planned it from the beginning; she was beating the Rain ANBU before they arrived.

"What is it Choiya?" She asked evenly, her too perfect face maintaining a blank facade. "Come to deliver excuses on your brother's behalf?"

"No, Mistress I have come to ask what our next task will be."

Zakkun had never told him her plans, but he knew that they were just pawns to her. Bodies. Choiya had always been a little smarter than his older brother.

She smiled alluringly, although it never reached her eyes. "Oh really?" She purred walking over to her shōgi set and resetting the pieces. "Fancy a game?" she inquired in an offhand manner once she had put the last piece back in place; the other king.

Choiya shook his head and she shrugged moving a few of the pieces around. "It just so happens that my plans have changed. Thanks to your fool of a brother." She gestured for him to move closer to the table as she addressed him.

Having not known the plans in the first place he didn't have much to say on the matter. She smiled softly clicking another piece into place. "I suppose it doesn't make much difference to you though." She clicked a piece into place before leaning forward to whisper in his ear.

His eyes widened and he recoiled at what he was hearing

"No." She spat shifting away from the creature in front of him. She must be insane, unbalanced, something... "We won't do it. I won't put them at risk like that. We're backing out of this now."

She smiled. "Backing out? Do you really think you have the power to do that now Choiya?"

Maybe she really was some kind of demon, to plan something like that. It was all in her name.

"I didn't think you would just let us go." He unzipped his jacket. "I came prepared for that."

"Oh. How amusing." She uttered softly as she regarded his chest, covered in exploding tags. Her eyes lit up as the tags ignited. "If I had known you would be this much fun I would have killed your brother a long time ago."

"I may not be able to get free of you, Kaosu, but I can take you down with me." He grabbed her arms to keep her as close to the explosion as possible. _Checkmate_.

Then she smiled up at him and he knew she had anticipated his move, why hadn't she stopped him?

The cave exploded.

The men in the main cavern jumped up in shock when they heard the explosion and the ensuing sounds rocks crashing down.

Many cried out that the Mistress lived down that way and despaired that she had been lost in the cave in.

Then a shadowy figure appeared from the dust that still hung in the air.

Their Mistress appeared before them, unharmed, with not even a speck of dust on her clothes. They practically exalted her as a goddess.

She smiled alluringly to her men. "Clean that up." She ordered gently. "And fetch me a new desk."

* * *

><p><em>I've just written the epilogue for the story, how exciting =D Now I've just got to get me through the bits in between yay<em>

_I hope you found this chapter insightful if nothing else, I'm not going to lie I quite like my Mistress =P_

_Keep them lovely reviews coming my lovelies, you know how much I enjoy them by now =D_

_Ohhh and while you're waiting for the next chapter why don't you check out my tumblr page (which you can access through my profile) and check out some of my original work. _

_Yeah I know, shameless self promotion but I couldn't help myself_


	14. Bad Days and Fudge Cake

Some days you wake up and you just know that it's going to be a good day.

You hop out of bed feeling refreshed and new and your hair is sitting just the way you want it. When you get to the kitchen the coffee is still hot and you've got plenty of time to enjoy a nice cooked breakfast, maybe read up on some of those medical scrolls you've been dying to bury yourself in.

When you head out the sun is shining, but isn't too hot so you can saunter along the street without getting sweaty on your way to work. Hell, you've even got time to saunter.

When you get to work everything goes just the way you want it to even the things that go wrong work out for the best and everyone admires your awesome healing skills. You find something especially tasty for lunch and get to head home early.

Then you go home have an amazing dinner, that someone else has cooked for you and finally go to sleep feeling fulfilled after having some amazing sex.

Sakura was not going to be having one of those days.

The day after Naruto had officially arrived in Suna, Sakura woke up in an empty bed, with a banging headache, ten minutes after she was supposed to arrive at the hospital.

She broke her little toe as she fell out of bed, which had to be healed so she could move without hobbling and from the brief glance she got of herself in the mirror she knew she looked like she'd been trampled by Fūjin and Raijin on their way to their next meal.

She barely had time to pour some room temperature coffee into a flask before leaving for the hospital, let alone the time for a slice of toast. Forget the medical scrolls they were still in Gaara's room.

It being Suna it was already absurdly hot outside so by the time she reached the hospital, having _not_ sauntered the whole way, she felt sticky with sweat.

And then she found out that the group she was supposed to be tutoring in new techniques was a bunch of snotty little gits who didn't appreciate what she was trying to do for them in the slightest.

They were ungrateful, rude, unwilling to listen and just downright arrogant.

It wasn't even like they were doing it behind her back, they were openly trying to be difficult, refusing to use an honorific, not paying attention when she tried to show them something that would be helpful. After she'd agreed to live in their village, three days away from her own.

On a normal day she'd have them whipped into shape in no time, without even resorting to her fists, she had a sharp tongue for people that wouldn't respect her.

But today was not a normal day, today she just wanted to cry.

By the time lunch time arrived she was just looking forward to that delicious morsel of food that would turn her frown upside down. The civilian builder who had decided he could climb like a ninja had other ideas as to how her lunch hour should be spent, so instead of eating that rather delicious looking fudge cake that had appeared for someone's birthday, she spent her time fixing the idiot's broken head and lecturing him on how he should use proper scaffolding at work. When she finally got back to that delicious looking cake it was completely gone, _of course_, because it had been a delicious cake.

And there was no one around to admire how she hadn't killed someone yet.

By the time she collapsed face first on her bed in room 18 her tutor group found her.

"Aren't you supposed to be teaching us right now?" The short guy with the mono-brow prodded.

"I don't care either way; I don't want her to teach me anyway." The blonde girl with hardly any aptitude for medical ninjutsu muttered.

She rolled over, silently asking whatever powers that were what she had done to deserve such a day. Dragging herself off the bed feeling utterly defeated she drifted out into the hall to her hellish students.

"Come on, get a move on already Haruno." The one suffering from male pattern baldness groaned at her.

She was going to lose her temper. She knew it; there was no stopping it now. She felt her eye twitch.

"It's. Haruno. San." She ground out haltingly. "You hear me?" She half shouted rounding on them. "Haruno-san. And you can drop the attitude."

"Che, you're one to talk about attitude. Haruno." The blonde spat back at her.

It was a fortunate thing for the blonde that a wisp of sand caught Sakura's wrist. She may not have charged her fist with chakra, but it still would have been a knockout blow. She struggled for a moment, but Gaara's sand was unrelenting.

She already knew she was in the wrong, and the guilt twisted in her gut making her feel even more like punching something.

She yanked her fist back, pulling it free of the sand and stormed off without even acknowledging Gaara's presence, kicking a door out of her way as she went.

The blonde had gone white. Her life had probably just flashed before her eyes.

"K-Kazekage-sama, thank you." She smiled at him shakily for being her hero.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I didn't stop her for your sake." Her face fell. "You should show more respect to someone who has travelled from her village to make you a stronger shinobi, and a better medic. Haruno-san is one of the best medical ninja alive today."

This was the first time anyone had seen him get angry since his fight with Naruto during the Chunin exam. And he wasn't just angry because it was Sakura. And it wasn't the same kind of angry; this was the anger of someone fighting an injustice.

"Do you know what it took to get someone of her calibre to come here and teach you? Months of negotiating with the Hokage, before he agreed to even consider sending someone like her." Naruto had agreed to send someone straight away, but Gaara had wanted someone truly excellent and that took more convincing. "And you want to squander away this precious opportunity to learn?"

The five medics before him were shrinking back from him. He didn't need to raise his voice; they knew he was furious.

"Do you have any idea how this reflects on our village? The Hokage is here right now, and when he hears about that it is likely he will be disappointed in how his close friend and team mate has been treated and it will be a long time before he sends anymore of his shinobi to share their skills with us. _I'm _disappointed, never mind the Hokage." He added in disgust. "Sakura Haruno happens to be one of the leaf shinobi who saved my life when I was taken by the Akatsuki. She was held in great esteem by Lady Chiyo."

He stared at their horrified expressions for a few seconds before deciding he'd said enough. "Get out of my sight." They scampered off with their tails between their legs, probably glad to be dismissed.

Gaara closed his eyes for a second searching for Sakura. He headed for the nearest staircase. She'd found her way to the roof of the hospital.

He was glad he had arrived when he did. She wasn't really to blame; Naruto had warned him about this. Sometimes she just had 'one of _those_ days' Naruto had called it. At first he and Kakashi had just figured it was one of those awkward, '_you know, uh, time of the month things'_ until they'd realised that it was too random for that and she was too good a medic and kunoichi to let something like that bring her down. It was just a Sakura thing.

Nurse Katsuki had come to his office during her lunch break to tell him that Sakura's students were _'being horribly disrespectful, and Sakura might kill one of them, not that they don't deserve it but Sakura will get in trouble.'_ So he'd tracked her down and arrived just in time.

Now she was probably going to be angry at him as well as herself and the rest of the world.

He made no sigh of complaint as he climbed the stairs to the roof. If it had been anyone else he might have done, he often did when Temari threw a temper, but it was a Sakura thing, so he'd deal.

He braced himself and then pushed open the door that led to the roof.

She was sitting with her back to him on the wall that edged the roof. Her hair was dishevelled and her whole demeanour was that of someone who was utterly defeated.

"I don't want to talk to you right now." She sounded like she wanted to cry. He ignored her statement and approached, sitting next to her looking back the way he came. Instead of speaking he held out the bag she hadn't seen him carrying.

She looked at it sullenly. Bizarrely, he almost wanted to laugh seeing that expression. He couldn't even begin to explain to himself why that was, but he schooled his expression knowing that to laugh might very well mean signing his own death certificate. After all he had noticed that his sand hadn't been there whenever she'd punched his arm, and while they weren't proper attacks they still killed a little. And he didn't want guess if it would protect him from a real attack.

"What is it?" She asked, still sullen.

"Nurse Katsuki told me it's a medicine that cures all ills." Curiosity getting the better of her, in the most sulky way possible of course, she took the bag. Gaara frowned as he added. "She also told me it's better than sex but I really hope not." She peeked inside.

Her eyes widened and her sulky frown vanished.

"Fudge cake?"

"Apparently the nursing staff saved you some, because you looked like you were having a tough time." He watched her bottom lip tremble, fighting the strange urge to laugh again. She was practically crying over cake after all.

She sniffled. "I'm sorry I nearly punched one of your medics Gaara."

"I'm sorry I couldn't let you punch her." She looked back into the bag again.

"Gaara?"

"Hm?" she looked back at him tremulously.

"I'm having a really bad day." She wailed suddenly.

Resisting that annoying urge to laugh again, he listened to babble about all her morning. He had to admit it was a pretty miserable chain of events. Even if he couldn't understand half of what she'd said.

After about ten minutes of her bawling he suggested she try some of that _'better than sex'_ fudge cake and handed her some tissues.

She regarded those tissues for a moment. Wondering what on earth Gaara of the desert, Kazekage of the hidden sand, one of the most stoic people she'd ever met, was doing carrying around a pack of man sized tissues.

She almost choked up again when she realised he'd probably brought them along specifically for her.

He'd certainly handled it a lot better than Naruto had the last time she'd had one of those days. He'd turned up all loud and obnoxious and panicked and babbled.

Gaara had arrived with cake and tissues, and had somehow managed not to laugh even though she knew he wanted to. Ino always laughed when she got like this. He just sat quietly and listened to her babble about her stupid toe and how when she'd finally gotten hot coffee in the hospital she'd been so stressed she'd broken the Styrofoam cup and spilled it all over herself.

She almost broke down again just thinking about it.

Instead she took the tissues, wiped away all the snot and tears and began attacking the fudge cake with the fork hidden in the bag.

Gaara was staring stoically at the air vent behind her, arms crossed. "Thanks for bringing me cake. And for resisting the urge to laugh at how silly I'm being." She sighed, coming to the conclusion that the cake _was_ in fact better than sex, if she didn't include Gaara in her comparison.

"You're not being silly."

She snorted, miraculously beginning to feel better about the world. "Oh please, would you be snivelling over cake?"

"Well, no, but then I don't cry about many things." He pointed out, leaning back so he could get a better look at her.

She contemplated that as she finished her cake. She could only think of one occasion that she'd heard of him crying; when he had encountered his father during the fourth great shinobi war, and that was perfectly reasonable.

She glanced into her empty bag regretfully. "I should have let you try some."

His eyes smiled as he looked at her again before he leant across and pressed his lips against her cheek.

"I have to return to work, but I dismissed your _students_," he said the word with particular distaste, much to her satisfaction. "So you can come with me." He ran his hand down her back in a purely platonic manner and then offered it to her to help her balance as she climbed off the wall.

She took it, pretending for a moment that she wasn't a kunoichi and didn't need someone to help her up.

She was going to quietly follow him back to his office and maybe fall asleep on some of his paper work, but she found herself pressed back against the wall, Gaara's arms holding her in place.

His lips brushed hers for a second before he pulled back. She tried to follow but he held her in place. He was a lot stronger than her after all, if you didn't include chakra strength.

He leant in again his tongue tracing her lips before he kissed her fully his tongue engaging with hers. Needless to say she forgot she was having a bad day. She could forget her own name like that, his body pressed against hers, a hand fisting possessively in her hair, while the other pulled her waist even closer to his body. The chocolaty after taste only heightened the experience as far as she was concerned.

Eventually though he broke the kiss, leaning his forehead against hers, still holding her close to him.

"Hm, it did taste pretty good." He murmured.

"Was it better than sex?" Sakura asked teasing, finally realising what he'd been doing.

His eyes were slightly hazy as he pulled away a little to meet her eyes.

"I don't particularly like cake."

"Tch, sure let me be the fat one." He chuckled once and brushed his lips against hers one more time lingering just a little.

"That would be interesting if nothing else." He released her, much to her disappointment. "Let's get going." He sighed, taking her hand to get her in motion.

"Well isn't this sweet." A cool female voice, dripping with sarcasm, droned from above them.

Gaara's sand shot up just in time to stop a barrage of kunai.

* * *

><p><em>Tadah! So I know, this is an odd little chapter, and it seems totally mad just reading it over but I had a bit of fun writing it. It's inspired by every morning that I've woken up late for work and then crashed my car into a wall lol.<em>

_Think of it as the up before we go serious for a bit, because much as I hate to admit it, this story will be drawing to a close =[ but don't worry we've still got some more chapters to come before it's all over and I'll have a collection of one-shots and outtakes maybe_

_Anyways, review away my lovelies._


	15. Desperate Battle

"_Let's get going." He sighed, taking her hand to get her in motion._

"_Well isn't this sweet." A cool female voice, dripping with sarcasm, droned from above them._

_Gaara's sand shot up just in time to stop a barrage of kunai._

* * *

><p>They turned to see a figure balanced on one of the tall spires of the building next to the hospital. Red hair shone under the desert sun.<p>

Before they could react she leapt from her perch.

By all rights she should have landed heavily, even the most graceful shinobi couldn't jump from that height without making a sound, or plunging through the roof.

Instead she seemingly slowed down before she reached the roof, almost hovering above the ground before she landed with enviable grace.

She said nothing more. She didn't even pause. The instant her feet met the sandy roof she launched her attack on Gaara.

He was ready for her, arms folded across his chest, expression calm.

His sand shield was nearly completely blasted away with one kick, and he had to actively dodge the blow which was only slightly slowed down by his infamous defence.

"Sakura, get out of here." He called out to her calling up even more sand to block the next attack which came from behind him.

"Gaara, I won't –" She began but he cut across her.

"That's an order. Find Naruto, alert the others." He fired a volley of sand at his opponent, who repelled it with a burst of chakra.

Reluctantly, Sakura made the leap onto the next roof, she felt sand whip over her shoulder and a kunai sailed past her left ear. She didn't look back but she could just about make out Gaara growling "I'm your opponent."

It hurt her to turn her back on him, even though she wasn't fooling herself that he needed her to protect him. Her good ninja sense was telling her that if the Kazekage needed help in a fight, then she wouldn't be able to do much to assist him. Another Kage was required. But her training with Kakashi still held true in her heart, to her it would never be right to turn away from a friend.

She raced across the roof tops, seeking Naruto's chakra signature.

Really, her day could not get much worse.

* * *

><p>Naruto sensed her chakra approaching from half way across the village.<p>

He and Hinata were quietly attending to some files he'd brought with him from Konoha; orders to be carried out during his absence and the like. It was a surprise to them both when she burst into his suite without even knocking.

He didn't complain of course, he knew from her expression that something was terribly amiss.

"What is it Sakura?" He demanded, noting that Hinata's byakugan was already activated.

"That Mistress." She spat. "Gaara's fighting her right now, he sent me to raise the alarm and to get you."

"There are several other battles occurring in the village as we speak." Hinata added. "The enemy numbers at around fifty."

"That's not enough to take on an entire hidden village!" Naruto exclaimed. "They must be insane."

He grabbed his long, orange coat and ninja tools. "Sakura, take Hinata and alert Temari and Kankuro if they don't already know. Then I want you to get out there on the front line, I want the enemy eliminated." He stepped up to the open window. "I'll join Gaara." Then he leapt out of the window, dashing in the direction of Gaara's battle.

He wasn't concerned about Sakura or Hinata, they were elite Jounin, the best of the best, next to them the rogues attacking the village were small fry, especially when one considered the fact that Sakura could probably knock out fifty ninja in one move, and Hinata had a defence as impenetrable as Gaara's. So the feeling of worry welling up in him was not for their sake. His girls could handle themselves.

No, Gaara was the one he was worried about.

Having experienced an attack from the mistress first hand, he knew that she was serious trouble. She had stopped him in his tracks with pure chakra, exerted with what had seemed to be will power alone. Chakra, turned into what felt like a physical wall.

It reminded him of Nagato's Deva Path, the ability manipulate attractive and repulsive forces. But it couldn't be the same; she clearly didn't possess the Rinnegan which was a huge relief at the very least.

He as he rounded a tall building he caught sight of sand dancing through the air up ahead.

A flash of red caught his attention. Gaara's assailant, the Mistress, had paused on the side of a building nearby. Her expression was neutral and her breathing was unlaboured.

She seemed distinctly familiar yet alien at the same time. Even the flavour of her chakra had a distinctive edge to it that Naruto thought he recognised but it felt so wrong at the same time.

She launched another attack on Gaara, who had remained on the roof, ploughing straight through his sand shield forcing him to dive out of the way.

That sight made Naruto's blood run cold. He'd never seen anyone break Gaara's defence so easily. Sure, he'd seen people get _around_ it; Lee and Sasuke had used their unbelievable speed to get past the sand. And it wasn't unheard of for shinobi to use water jutsu to weigh the sand down. And Deidara had even used the sand itself as a weapon.

But those were the loop holes, he'd never heard of anyone punching straight through it.

And Gaara was simply not that suited to close combat, even after dissolving the gourd in order to drop the weight he was only average in speed.

Average wasn't going to cut it against this woman. Gaara was hard pressed to create more distance between them.

All this Naruto observed in the fifteen seconds it took for him to get in range. He didn't announce himself; there was no time for such boldness. He merely pulled out a special kunai and threw it into the gap between the mistress and his friend.

It was a jutsu no one knew he had learned. But then he'd always had a knack for the really difficult jutsu. And the Flying Thunder God technique had certainly been that.

He appeared before the red haired woman in a flash blocking her kunai with the one he had thrown and another one of his father's kunai then he pushed her back with his feet.

She flipped away lithely and surveyed them silently for a moment. She was beautiful, he noted, dark green eyes, silky red hair and a face that would probably have lesser men falling over themselves to give her anything she wanted.

"Who are you?" Naruto growled. Hoping to buy Gaara some time to find a better vantage point.

Her lips thinned into an evil smile. "Kaosu." She licked some blood off her kunai, Gaara's blood; he had a deep gash on his arm. "I'm the one that will kill you both."

She lunged again.

* * *

><p>"Eight Trigrams; Thirty Two Palms." The five rogues surrounding Hinata fell away, a few of them groaning, the rest of them dead. She leapt out of the way when she saw Sakura preparing to slam a fist into the ground.<p>

Kankuro and Temari were already fighting elsewhere and they could see Shizune using her poison mist jutsu a few hundred metres away.

Hinata felt Naruto's chakra fluctuate; she stretched her byakugan to the limit to find him.

Though she knew he was the most powerful and skilled ninja she knew, she couldn't help but feel fearful. She just couldn't bear it if harm were to come to him now. Especially not after the previous night.

_Hinata dithered outside Naruto's suite, trying to find a good reason to go in, and trying to find the nerve._

_She nearly leapt out of her skin when she felt him appear behind her. What a fool she felt, she'd stressed so much about going in and he hadn't even been in there._

"_N-Naruto." Damn that stutter."I-I was just," all that time she'd been standing there and she still didn't have a good reason, "lost." She wanted to bash her head against the door._

_She felt her cheeks heating as he smiled down at her in a way that told her she was totally busted._

"_I g-guess I'll just-" She tried to make her escape but he caught her arm. Was he going to be mad at her?_

"_Tea?" That one word had her heart fluttering, she smiled nervously._

"_That would be nice."_

_He leant past her and opened his door, gesturing for her to enter first. He indicated for her to make herself comfortable on the couch as he went to the little kitchen area to make the tea._

_She waited quietly, wringing her hands together nervously._

_She accepted her tea with a shy thank you and sipped at it, hoping to calm herself down. A small frown graced her features and she looked up at him eyes wide._

"_Y-you put honey in it, Naruto-kun?" He smiled that smile that made her melt._

"_That's how you like it isn't it?"_

"_But how-?"_

_His cerulean blue eyes were soft as he answered her unfinished question. "I pay attention." He sipped his own tea with a small smile gracing his lips. "I always pay attention to you at least."_

_She didn't really trust herself to speak, it would just come out as a stuttering mess anyway so she kept quiet, watching him with wide eyes._

"_I've been meaning to talk to you for a while now." He informed her._

_She could only wonder what he might want to talk to her about. Given the atmosphere she'd probably cry in disappointment if it turned out to be work related._

_He laughed nervously and smiled sheepishly. "I guess I wanted it to sound cooler and more epic than this." He admitted. "But sitting here with you seems to have turned me into even more of an idiot than I usually am..."_

"_Naruto-kun, you're never an idiot." She burst out suddenly. "You might not always say the cleverest things and you sometimes do things that make people question you, but you've never been an idiot. You've always been so kind and strong and true. You've grown so much since we were all Genin, and now you are the best Hokage we've ever had, because as well as being clever and powerful, you have such a good heart Naruto." She flushed, realising she'd spoken a little more than she'd intended._

_He grinned at her. _

_In her eyes, the expression lit up the whole world, she would give anything and everything to have him smile like that all the time. To have him smile like that for her, well, there was nothing she could do or say to pay the world back for its kindness._

"_Hinata." He took her hand, squeezing it gently. "That's why I love you."_

She would not see him taken away from her now. Even if she had to go face that woman herself.

She brought her byakugan away from the distant battle, her insides twisting nervously. For now, she would have to have faith in his abilities, and those of the Kazekage.

She turned her attention to her next opponent. This at least, was something she could do for him.

* * *

><p>As her fist connected with yet another clone, Sakura nearly screamed in frustration. She needed to get past these idiots. The aching in her gut was telling her that Gaara was injured, and that Naruto had just entered the battle.<p>

It was like one of those dreams where you're trying desperately to reach something but you're running in slow motion.

She threw her fist at the ground with a growl. The resulting shockwave destroyed the clones in front of her, revealing the offending rogue.

He tried to escape but she was on him quicker than he could have imagined. He was dead before he could scream.

There was an explosion of sand up ahead.

Sakura turned to her next opponent.

* * *

><p>Gaara's arm throbbed painfully. Thanks to Naruto he had created more distance between him and the Mistress, Kaosu, but he just couldn't land an attack on her. The fact that he was still losing a lot of blood from the wound on his arm wasn't helping.<p>

He staggered back dizzily as Kaosu tried to circumvent Naruto and attack him. If Naruto hadn't blocked her again she would have landed another hit on him.

He gritted his teeth, refocusing his attention on the battle. He was the Kazekage damn it, and yet here he was being defended by the Hokage like some piffling little Genin.

He set his mind to setting a little trap for her, and creating a platform of sand to keep himself out of her reach.

There, she was in just the right spot, he triggered the trap and sand exploded into the air, bombarding her from all sides.

Naruto appeared beside him, grasping the kunai he'd strapped to Gaara's arm. He had a few minor cuts and bruises, nothing serious.

"How are you feeling." He asked, looking down into the sand that still hung in the air, obscuring the roof from view.

"Dizzy, but I can handle it."

"Take this." He handed him a little black pill. The corner of his mouth curled up slightly at Gaara's questioning look. "It's a plasma pill, Sakura makes me carry them."

He took it gladly and within a few seconds he could feel his focus returning.

The dust was beginning to clear; they could see Kaosu standing in the centre of the roof, looking scruffier than she had before.

"We have to move this away from the hospital." Gaara could see the battle reaching the point where buildings would be destroyed. He received a nod in response before Naruto threw one of his father's kunai straight at the woman below them.

He appeared to her right – which he had deduced was her weaker side – and grabbed her arm as she parried his attack, swinging her around, throwing her off the roof.

* * *

><p>Sakura and Hinata looked on as Naruto dodged the fire style jutsu the woman fired at him as she landed on another roof. They were both glad to see that their blonde hadn't received any injuries that would slow him down.<p>

Sakura's heart, however, sank when she noticed the blood dripping from Gaara's arm.

His lips were pressed together in concentration as he threw a sand shield up around Naruto to defend him from another fire jutsu. At the same time the sand around the woman formed into sharp spikes and flew through her.

The clone disappeared.

All she could do was watch in horror then as the Mistress appeared behind him, performing a familiar set of hand seals.

"Water style..."

* * *

><p>Gaara's eyes widened.<p>

"Water style: Raging Waves."

The torrent was unstoppable; he could feel his sand crumbling away beneath him. There was nothing he could do to stop his descent, even as he released his sand armour. Shifting the sand beneath him was taxing.

He hit the wet sand beneath him, hard. His vision went black.

* * *

><p>Seeing Kaosu preparing to attack Gaara as he fell, Naruto threw himself into her path, preparing his Rasengan.<p>

An evil smile spread across her face.

The pain that shot through his chest was almost unbearable. He coughed, tasting blood in his mouth, and looked down at his chest. The woman in front of him disappeared.

A short katana protruded from his chest.

* * *

><p>Landing just ten metres away from the two fallen kage, Kaosu smirked. It had almost been too easy. She took a step toward them, raising the katana she had used on the Hokage. It was time to finish them both for good.<p>

But first.

Two kunoichi had appeared between her and her targets. The first, a Hyuga, with long, dark blue hair. She stood protectively in front of the two kage, but her gaze kept shifting to the left a little. So she was there for the Hokage then.

The second, well she knew that pink haired kunoichi just a little too well, she was already healing the Hokage's wound, but a large part of her attention was focused on the Kazekage.

She felt a tug of amusement curl up the right side of her beautiful lips.

"Well this is amusing." She continued her advance focusing on the Hyuga. "I don't really want to play with _you_."

Before the girl could even gasp, she was being thrown back by one of Kaosu's chakra punches.

_She landed next to her Hokage, I'm sure she'd like that. _She thought with a wicked smile.

The pink haired kunoichi's eyes hardened as she stood to face her. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, but she couldn't hide her fury.

Kaosu stopped a few feet away from her, taking in that pitiful pink haired woman.

She had spirit at least. Her hands were balled into fists and her body was tensed for a fight.

Anger and disgust were etched into every line of her body and face. That would make the pleasure of torturing her even more sweet.

"Now, now," she purred at the girl, "don't look at me like that." Another evil smile, "Mother."

* * *

><p><em>I feel like this chapter feels a little bit rushed but hopefully it's tolerable.<em>

_oooh so review away my lovelies, I wish to hear your theories and gasps of horror and confusion lol_


	16. Her Losing Fight

_Ohh how much your reactions to the last chapter pleased me, I knew it would be cruel to make you wait, so here is chapter 16_

* * *

><p><em>"Now, now," she purred at the girl, "don't look at me like that." Another evil smile, "Mother."<em>

* * *

><p>There was a long pause as the two women stared at each other. Then, Sakura laughed.<p>

"I'm not going to play stupid mind games with you. If I were your mother I would have scared this behaviour out of you the day you were born."

The woman laughed at this response. "Oh but I wasn't born mother dearest." Her dark green eyes flickered over to where Gaara lay. "Oh it seems the fall didn't knock him out after all."

Not allowing her eyes to leave the woman in front of her Sakura turned her head slightly in his direction. "Gaara?"

He made a pained noise to confirm that he was indeed conscious.

"I would pay more attention to your little Kaosu if I were you, mother." Sakura narrowed her eyes at the woman measuring her. She seemed familiar, the shape of her eyes, her posture.

Then she lunged, fist powered with chakra. The red haired woman dodged at the last minute and her fist collided with a wall.

The building collapsed in a shower of sand.

"Oh careful with that, you might hurt someone." A sultry voice commented behind her.

"That was the idea." Sakura spat back before attacking again. She hit another building to the same effect.

"Well we can play this game if you insist on it mother." There was a flash of red and the woman appeared in front of her, slamming her fist into the ground.

* * *

><p>Gaara was unable to do anything as Sakura was thrown across the street among the debris the attack had created. He was afraid, he knew she could fight her own battles; she wasn't the weak kunoichi he had batted aside during the Chunin exams all those years ago. But still, this enemy was something else.<p>

She dragged herself to her feet and wiped the blood away from the corner of her mouth.

"How-?" She murmured. Kaosu appeared before her again, lifting her off the ground by her shirt.

"Perfect chakra control was one of the gifts you gave me mother. Along with that clever little mind of yours." Mother?

Gaara's mind scrambled for some kind of explanation. Kaosu was clearly too old to be Sakura's child, although now that he looked closer he could see some resemblance between them, the eyes may have been a darker shade of green but they had the same shape, and the hair, which was obviously a different colour grew in the same way. Even their faces had a similar shape, although there was something off about Kaosu's.

"I don't understand." Sakura choked out.

"Oh dear," Kaosu sneered, "Do I really need to spell it out for you, mother dearest?" She lifted her even higher. "When I was first conceived, I was you." Her speech stopped suddenly as Sakura's hand found bare flesh. She whipped her arm around, tossing Sakura like a rag doll.

It seemed to take her by surprise when she flipped over and found her footing before she landed, skidding backwards across the sandy street.

"I see." Pulling out a kunai, Sakura took a fighting stance. "You possess my DNA."

"I don't just possess it mother; it is the base of all I am." She smiled broadly. "When father created me, he used you as the template. I was his final result."

"Why?"

"Because I was perfect." She shrugged. "Of course he had to tweak my appearance. You know, shrink the forehead."

She was trying to get a rise out of her, provoke her anger; Sakura merely regarded her with a sceptical eye.

"Clearly you're not perfect. You seem a little unbalanced to me." Kaosu's face contorted in anger at Sakura's retort. "Maybe you should tell your father he needs to start over."

"Oh I'm afraid that's impossible, you see I killed him before I took my name." Sakura's expression remained neutral. "Either way. Mother. I am better than you. I have been from the moment I was created."

"I see." The lack of response seemed to anger Kaosu even more.

"Aren't you scared? You know you can't hope to defeat me." All that got was a shrug.

If the situation hadn't been so serious Gaara would have smiled. If this woman was supposed to be better than Sakura then she should have realised that Sakura was beating her at her own game. Instead of getting riled up, she was antagonising Kaosu by remaining perfectly calm. "Maybe I should make you watch as I kill your little lover boy first."

There was no missing her small reaction to that. Something flashed through her eyes and she tensed slightly.

"Why are you doing this?" Gaara could hear the genuine plea in her voice. It was a last ditch effort to reason with the fiend before her. "If you really came from my DNA then why are you so twisted, why are you causing so much trouble? Is this some twisted desire to control the shinobi world?"

Kaosu's lips curled up at the corners. "Why would I want to do that? I have no interest in wasting my time like that."

"Then why?"

"Why not?" The red haired woman sighed blissfully. "The truth is I just get bored when the world stands still."

There was a long silence as Sakura stared at her '_offspring'_. Gaara couldn't imagine what might be going through her head.

"Very well then. You leave me no choice." Sakura reached up to the back of her neck and removed her hitai-ate before refastening it over her forehead.

All Gaara could do was watch helplessly as the battle began in earnest.

* * *

><p>As she collided with her opponent Sakura had a plan, it was dangerous and there was little chance for success, but it was the only way she could think to defeat the woman before her. The only way to win her losing battle.<p>

She missed the redhead a third time, a fourth, a fifth. Soon the area around them had been reduced to a large sandy clearing.

"What's the matter, _mother?_" She taunted. "Why so slow?" Kaosu's chakra charged foot caught Sakura's left arm causing her to leap back grimacing.

Without out so much as a groan she popped her shoulder back into the socket, applying as much healing chakra as she could afford to strengthen the joint.

She noticed Naruto stirring slightly.

Her observation was punished when she found herself being pushed back by a wall of chakra.

Sakura sent out a silent thank you for her own chakra control at that moment. Tsunade had always told her that there was a way to counteract any technique, the best way was to meet it with an opposing force. She was also incredibly grateful for the time she'd spent training with Neji and Hinata.

She narrowed her eyes and pushed her own chakra to her skin. The result was perfect, Kaosu's wave of chakra slid over her. She shot forward, and her fist met Kaosu's face with a satisfying crack. She tumbled backwards nearly fifty metres before she found her footing again.

She turned a vicious glare on Sakura, a large dark bruise forming on her cheek. She blocked Sakura's next attack by catching her fist, snapping her wrist back using her momentum to throw her to the ground.

"Fire style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu." Sakura gritted her teeth against the pain as one of the fireballs grazed her back, melting her clothes to her skin.

"Lighting style: Strike." Sakura's left arm went numb as a streak of electricity grazed it. She landed on all fours, quickly dragging herself to her feet. "I'll hand it to you _mother_, I thought I could bring you down in a fist fight." She began a long chain of hand signs. "I'm afraid you don't stand a chance against my ninjutsu."

She took the pause as an opportunity to repair her wrist, and repair as much damage as she could from the other attacks before dodging another fire jutsu.

She needed to get closer, she'd never been a ninjutsu style, and medical ninjutsu was the only one that she could frequently apply in battle.

She began forming hand seals, casting a Genjutsu over herself, hoping Kaosu would be fooled for long enough that she could get in close.

She hooked a kunai onto a short stretch of wire as she moved. But she was too late, and there was no dodging the fireball jutsu headed toward her.

A wall of sand materialised in front of her.

* * *

><p>Gaara could practically feel every muscle in his body spasm for action as Sakura had several near misses with the fire and lightning jutsu. She disappeared for in a Genjutsu, but was revealed as a fireball shot straight for her.<p>

He knew she wouldn't be able to dodge it.

If he had the sand he would be able to save her but... sand. The district they were in was the one that had been destroyed during the first attack; Sakura had spent the first part of the battle demolishing it for him. All that remained of the buildings now was sand, lots and lots of it.

He could have kicked himself for not realising sooner.

Exerting his will, he sent the sand to her defence.

"It's about time." She sighed, dropping to her knees behind his wall.

Dragging himself into an upright position, wincing as he felt pains shoot up and down his spine, and through his hip, Gaara glanced over at Naruto, who was just sitting up.

He saw his blue eyes narrow dangerously as he saw Sakura's injuries.

"Let's end this." He growled getting to his feet, reengaging sage mode.

Gaara nodded, Sakura had fought hard enough, against all odds, not even fighting to win. His heart gave an odd squeeze as he realised that she had been fighting for them to win, putting her life on the line in order to buy them time.

They wouldn't waste the opportunity.

* * *

><p>Kaosu, scowled as a wall of sand blocked her fireball. So that had been her plan. She hadn't even tried to hit her at the start; she'd played slow, so that she could give her precious kage another chance.<p>

She had been played, outmanoeuvred. The last time that had happened...

_She placed her next piece carefully, eyeing her father's expression as he watched her move._

"_Climbing silver?" He questioned. "Interesting, I guess I should expect such a move from you."_

_Her dark green eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"_

_He smiled warmly, moving his own piece. "You're prone to disregarding the importance of the little things."_

_She made her next move. "As a shinobi, one must be ready and willing to make sacrifices. You designed me to be a perfect shinobi didn't you?"_

"_I suppose in that aspect you're right. With that mentality you are so unlike your sisters and your mother, but I am no longer sure that is a good thing, my dear."_

_He clicked another piece into place. "Why?" She asked, acerbically._

"_You are too willing to make sacrifices. You don't attach yourself to anything, you fight only for yourself."_

"_And? I am a powerful shinobi." She moved another piece, excitement tingled in her, she was about to win._

"_That you are, but a powerful tool that holds no allegiance is a dangerous one, it could easily turn on its wielder. You must also be willing to sacrifice yourself for your wielder." He moved another piece. "Checkmate."_

_She stared at the shōgi board for a long moment her photographic memory sealing it in her mind forever. Her king was well and truly penned in._

_How could she lose? She was too good for that._

_She had been outmanoeuvred. He'd made sure she was so distracted with her own attack and his words that she'd missed the trap. _

_Her eyes narrowed venomously. _

_She lifted his king from its place. "And you think you're my wielder do you?"_

_Before he could answer he was on his back, kunai at his throat. "Looks like you were right." She whispered. The blade drifted across his throat, spraying blood up the walls and over her clothes. "I do hope that my sisters won't mind me using the same kunai on them."_

_She left the room, taking only her father's blood, the kunai and his king._

She'd sworn she wouldn't let it happen again. She'd studied that shōgi board every day as a reminder.

And yet it had happened. Sand wrapped around her arms and body, pinning her down.

She saw that damned Hokage creating that infamous Rasen-Shuriken of his, if it hit, she was done.

Like hell the sand would hold her down.

* * *

><p>The sand in front of Sakura darted away, pinning a stunned Kaosu down, anger split across those perfect features.<p>

Naruto's Rasen-Shuriken was ready. She could see he was drained; he wouldn't be able to make another attack like that. Gaara's injuries would likely prevent him from doing much more.

This had to end it.

Naruto threw the Rasen-Shuriken.

Kaosu's face contorted in fury.

"LIKE HELL!" She screamed, releasing a burst of chakra, blowing away the sand holding her down.

She was going to escape, and they would all lose.

Sakura dragged herself to her feet, allowing a small smile to grace her features.

* * *

><p>Naruto's eyes widened as they returned to blue and the sand restraining Kaosu broke away.<p>

* * *

><p>He couldn't hold her down any longer; he felt his heart crack as his sand fell away. In that moment, Gaara despaired.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaosu laughed triumphantly, she'd won; now her chaos would rain. She shot the attack bearing down on her an amused glance; she would easily be out of its range by the time it reached the space she occupied.<p>

Her ribs constricted. "What?" She gasped, her eyes meeting a lighter green.

Sakura smiled. "You lose."

The last thing they heard was Naruto's scream of denial. Then the jutsu hit.

* * *

><p><em>HeeHees, I seem to be working it with the cliff hangers at the moment. Fortunately for you all this isn't really much of a cliff hanger, because the next chapter is already written.<em>

_It's all wrapping up *sniffle* I might be a little bit sad when this is all done_


	17. Can You Hear Me?

_Three chapters in one day, who's on a roll? oh I think it's me =]_

**_Don't worry guys this is not the end, just to clear up the concern there's still at least one more chapter and the epilogue to come!_**

* * *

><p>All I want is for everyone to be happy.<p>

Naruto, can you hear me? I just want you to spend your days smiling, you and all my old friends in Konoha. You'll probably be upset that I did what I did, distraught even. Maybe you'll do what you did when Sasuke died.

I hope not, I did it to save you, I was always willing to give my life for you; my Hokage, my friend. So don't cry you hear me? I'm a kunoichi, a shinobi, I did my duty.

I guess you'll have Hinata to comfort you now anyway, she'll understand why I did it.

I wouldn't change any of this.

You know I was dreading coming to Suna, I didn't want to be away from home all that time. I was scared I wouldn't make any friends, and that I'd be missing everyone all the time. I was scared I would screw everything up.

I made lots of friends at the hospital; the nurses have pretty much adopted me in the short time I've been here. Temari and Kankuro make me feel like I'm home.

And I haven't screwed up. When I get to the hospital I know exactly what I should do and how to direct my students. I was scared I wouldn't be able to handle it without Tsunade and Shizune there to watch over me, I was wrong to doubt. They taught me well.

And Naruto I found something here, something I thought I'd lost when our Sasuke died.

I remember the first time I saw him; he was steeped in darkness and anger. I was terrified of him then.

But when I saw him for the first time arriving in Suna – well I was still a little nervous he's the Kazekage after all – but he reassured me when I doubted myself.

"_What about the others" I looked up at him, confused. "That only accounts for one of the critical patients and three minor patients. What about the other three critical patients, the thirty one serious and other one hundred and twenty four minor cases?"_

_He was trying to comfort me?_

"_Uhm." I tried to gather my thoughts. I'd never heard him make such a long speech before. "The others have stabilised, but most of them still need constant care to keep them that way."_

"_You have gained the respect of many people tonight Sakura-Chan, including me." I looked down at the floor, still feeling the weight of those names dragging my heart down._

_I felt his hand on my shoulder, squeezing just enough to be a comfort._

"_You can't save everyone and if you hadn't arrived when you did more would have died."_

"_Well I just, I don't _think_ I left the hospital, but I just can't quite grasp what happened this morning." I put my head in my hands, feeling weary, despairing, wondering if maybe I had been the one somehow._

_I felt his hand on my shoulder once again._

"_We will continue the investigation tomorrow." I looked up at him, knowing that my emotions were completely exposed to him. "I am more certain of your innocence than you are, it seems." He crouched down in front of me, looking up at me. His eyes held only confidence, he wasn't trying to make me feel better, he wasn't speaking empty words; his eyes were certain. I could feel his breath on my face as he spoke. I felt a little intoxicated then, even if I didn't realise it. "You did not do this."_

He knew when I was hurting and just how to comfort me.

"_Are you in pain?" The concern was apparent in his eyes._

"_No, I just feel a little weak. I just need to take it easy." I came to a stop. I felt like a fool for leaning on him but I had to let it out. "I liked Oto... I... was he ever real?"_

_He met my eyes for a long moment. I could see he was trying to decide how to answer me, I felt guilty for trying to make him deal with something like that. "Don't worry, forget I asked. I know he wasn't..." I moved to follow Ino and Kankuro but he caught my arm and pulled me back, using his free hand to tilt my head back so I had to look at him._

_I could see my own pain reflected in his eyes. "He fooled everyone; people Oto had worked with for years and his neighbours. I saw nothing suspicious when I spoke with him." He paused to read my expression as I regarded him silently. "I guess that's not the thing upsetting you though."_

_I shook my head, giving in to the urge to lean on him. "I thought I'd made a good friend, and found a colleague I could rely on. Even though it was never real I feel," I glanced over to the place where Ino and Kankuro had vanished making sure they were really gone. Then I leant forward, resting my forehead on his chest, seeking comfort there, before sighing the last word._

"_Betrayed."_

_He said nothing. I felt his arms wrap around me, and his face in my hair, inhaling deeply._

_I made a silent vow to myself that someday, he would be able to lean on me._

He trusted me when he didn't need to.

_I approached him confidently holding out my hands, hoping to put him at ease. "Normally the technique is applied directly to the temples, but for a demonstration your hands will do." I waited for him to place his hands in mine, leaving the choice to him._

_I wondered if he noticed that slight tremble in his own fingers, if he felt mine twitch slightly in response._

_I began my work but his chakra attacked mine._

"_Gaara," I choked out, he looked confused and maybe a little disappointed. "If this is going to work for you, Gaara, you need to stop yourself from fighting back." He continued to stare at me. "I'm only using healing chakra and, as you just demonstrated; your chakra is much more powerful than mine, so you could stop me from harming you quite easily."_

_I knew that wasn't really the problem, but I didn't want to force him to tell me the truth._

_There was more uncertainty in his eyes; did he know I could see it?_

"_Very well." He held his hands out to me. _

He made time fly and stop; he's beaten me at my own games and proven me wrong. He saw when I didn't sleep well and knew how to read me.

Naruto, can you hear me? Don't let him be sad.

All I want is for everyone to be happy.

But you know, most of all. I want _him_ to be smiling.

* * *

><p><em>I feel I should add to the end of this that as I wrote this I was listening to Yiruma's 'Kiss the Rain' listening to that might give the chapter a little more depth, because to me it's just perfect to accompany Sakura's feelings here.<em>

_I've also decided there will be an alternate ending to this Fic, I'll post it separately so keep an eye out for it =P _

**_Once again, not the end, please don't kill me =S_**


	18. In the Aftermath

_Haaaa so chapter 18 has arrived! Please bear with this chapter, it'll probably undergo several edits!_

* * *

><p>There was utter silence as the Rasen-Shuriken finished.<p>

The two women were laying ten feet apart, one spread eagled across a rock which had been exposed by the blast, the other half buried in a pile of sand. It was hard to say which was which, sand still hung in the air.

Silence.

It was the kind of silence that howls and screams at you, it was oppressive and suffocating.

Neither of the forms moved. Or maybe time itself had stopped for that moment? Naruto couldn't tell, all he knew was that his best friend was one of those forms laying just a few metres away.

He fell to his knees.

Gaara felt numb. He knew time hadn't stopped. The sand was clearing from the air, he could see Naruto falling to his knees and Hinata begin to stir.

No, time hadn't stopped. He just wanted it to.

There were no chakra signals coming through that haze of sand.

"Sakura!" The silence was shattered by an unfamiliar voice. There was a figure approaching from the other side of the clearing. _Shizune, yes, that's who it is_, he thought mildly to himself.

The woman knelt beside the body in the sand, ignoring the one on the rock. So that was Sakura. He could see a little of the bubblegum pink of her hair, although it looked like it was dusty brown now the sand had settled.

He could feel the edges of his vision darkening. Maybe he was about to pass out from blood loss, maybe it was shock, either way oblivion would be welcome.

The last thing he saw before the darkness consumed him was the medic's eyes widening.

"What the-?"

* * *

><p>In all her years as a medic, Shizune had never been so surprised. She'd seen the last moments of the fight, seen Sakura leap forward to pin down that evil witch as the Rasen-Shuriken had approached.<p>

She'd rushed in, knowing the worst had happened. That technique was S-rank for a reason, it was deadly. Neither of them were showing signs of life from a distance.

But now as she stared down at Sakura her skin and clothes began turning an odd shade of brown. A crack appeared on her face.

"What the-?"

A flake of hard sand fell away, revealing the pale skin underneath.

"Sand armour?" Shizune looked up at the voice.

"Apparently so, Hokage-sama." She carefully lifted Sakura out of the sand, knocking away the rest of the armour. "The Kazekage must have encased her in sand at the last moment." She stroked the sand out of Sakura's pink locks, probing for damage as she went. "She'll be ok, she's almost completely drained of chakra, which is why we couldn't sense it, and her wounds are quite severe. But she'll be fine."

Naruto nodded down at her and crouched down, picking her up gently, like she was something infinitely precious. But then to him, and to a lot of others, she was. "I'll take her to the hospital, tend to Gaara's injuries." He turned away and gestured to Hinata, who was getting to her feet gingerly, clutching her ribs. "You to the hospital with me Hina-Chan, we'll get you fixed up there."

* * *

><p>Gaara didn't want to wake up. He really didn't. He wanted to sleep forever.<p>

He wasn't even sure why he was so reluctant to open his eyes. His sleep had been plagued with nightmares. It had started with the Shukaku, tormenting him as he always did, despite the fact that he was long gone. But the nightmares changed, a girl with pink hair, a lovely girl he had to add, was fighting a girl with red hair. But his lovely pink haired girl was losing, despite all her cunning, and before he knew it she was deathly pale in the dirt at her opponent's feet.

But he didn't know her name, and why was her face not there anymore.

Gaara finally dragged his eyes open.

He was shaking. How could he forget her face?

There was a hand on his shoulder, pressing him back into the bed.

"Kazekage-sama, you need to take it easy, your wounds are mostly healed but you're still a little weak." It was that nurse Sakura had befriended the one who had come to his office. He didn't care to remember her name. "You just need to take this plasma pill and you should feel stronger, although your chakra still needs to recover."

He gazed at the pill, disinterested.

It would be selfish of him to go into a catatonic state, he knew that. There was a village to run, things he had to do. But in that moment he wanted to be selfish. Just for a little while.

The nurse shot a concerned glance at someone he couldn't see.

Naruto came into view; his face was serious yet calm. "Sakura's in the next room." He gestured to the little black pill the nurse was still offering. "I expect you want to be there when she wakes up."

His eyes widened. "She's – she's alive?"

"The sand armour you put around her took most of the damage. Shizune said she'll be weak for a while, but she'll be fine."

Gaara took the plasma pill hastily. Biting down on it before sitting up and swinging his legs off the bed.

"Kazekage-sama-" Nurse Katsuki began, trying to stop him.

"I need to see her." He realised he was still fully dressed, clearly not much time had elapsed since the fight. "I didn't put sand armour on her, I didn't have the time or chakra." Naruto frowned at that but still remained in his way.

"While that is odd, you still need to rest up, we can figure out how it happened later."

"I have to see her now." Naruto wouldn't budge. "I need to see her." He felt like a broken record. Why couldn't he understand that he needed to see her? He needed to see her, so he could believe she was alive.

"We can set up a bed for you in her room if you wish Kazekage-sama, you can rest in there." There was a glimmer of understanding in the Nurse's eyes. "In the mean time, hospital policy states that any patients out of bed must be in a wheel chair, and while normally I'd bend that policy, you are recovering from a spinal injury so I must insist."

There was a short pause as both kage looked at the nurse, surprised.

"Very well." He sighed, anxious to see Sakura.

The nurse disappeared for a moment and then returned with a wheel chair.

With a little help from Naruto, because his back really did hurt, Gaara was in the chair. Naruto dismissed himself, something about seeing to Hinata, and then Nurse Katsuki was wheeling him into the hall.

She chuckled softly. "I knew there was something going on between you two." She pushed open the door a few metres down the hall and wheeled him in.

She was deathly pale, and a tube protruded from her mouth, but the beeping on the monitor confirmed that she was very much alive. The nurse wheeled him around the bed.

His chair came to a stop beside her and he breathed a sigh of relief, gently taking her hand in his.

It was cold he noticed, far too cold, but he could feel a pulse under his fingers.

Gritting his teeth against the pain in his spine, he pulled himself up onto the edge of her bed and lay in the small space beside her, wrapping his arms around her carefully. He pressed his face into her neck, breathing her in.

Within moments he was asleep.

* * *

><p>Selenia Katsuki observed this through the little window in the door with a small smile. He hadn't even noticed her leave. The moment he'd seen her he'd seemingly become oblivious to everything else.<p>

She flipped the shutter across the window with an almost dreamy sigh. She loved romance but working in the hospital she so seldom got to see it bloom like that.

She would have an orderly put in another bed in there at some point but there was all that paper work that she just _had_ to do, so it probably wouldn't be for another six hours at least.

* * *

><p>"We hit the jackpot." Temari informed Naruto as she left the interrogation chamber.<p>

"Good to hear, what did you find out?"

"I found out a lot of things. What would you like to know?"

"Who was that woman?"

"Kaosu, Subject 7." Temari began with a smug smile, pleased that the lackey she'd just interrogated had stumbled across the information by accident. "She was the creation of a scientist from the land of water. The name was," she flicked through the notes she'd taken, "Han Guri, his was known in the land of water for his experiments with DNA which was very controversial because he created live subjects and did tests on them. The fifth Mizukage exiled him from the village when he refused to stop his tests." Temari closed the file. "About five years after that, nearly a year ago, he was found dead in his home near the border, along with six women who appeared to be his creations."

Naruto frowned. "How did that guy know all this? He didn't seem to even be a ranking member of the rogues."

"Apparently he found some files in Kaosu's chamber; he said something about a cave in. Apparently he was stupid enough to actually carry them into battle with him." She waved a battered set of files at him; they were sealed in a plastic bag. "These are the records of his last experiments." Her face wrinkled with disgust. "Apparently he bought a sample of Sakura's DNA from Kabuto Yakushi, using a sample of the fourth Mizukage's flesh as payment."

"Ok, gross." Naruto muttered.

"Definitely. His last record was on subject seven. Apparently she'd started showing signs of being unstable, and he put it down to the modifications he'd made to the behavioural centre in the brain. He was considering terminating her, despite her being more powerful than the others, but it seems she must have beaten him to it."

"You really did hit the jack pot then."

"Tip of the iceberg Naruto, that's just the insignificant stuff."Temari pointed out seriously, pursing her lips. "The trouble is I really need Gaara to hear this and the other Kage as well."

"So I'm assuming you're not going to tell me now then?" He guessed, clearly there was no point going over it five times.

"No I don't, in fact I want to keep this top secret until the others arrive. That's why I called you here." His eyebrows rose questioningly. "Normally I'd ask Gaara, but he's in no condition, could you counter seal these documents for me. Also the messages I'm sending to the other Kage." She paused before continuing. "It's also imperative that their arrival in this village is kept secret."

He nodded wearing an amused smile. "You know I still find it odd when the people who took that first Chunin exam with me seek me out as the Hokage."

Temari gave him an evil grin. "Yeah well I still find it odd that a guy like you is Hokage in the first place, I can't believe you would ever get anything done!"

They laughed quietly. "I'm looking forward to having you in my village Temari."

"What?" She was taken aback, had Shikamaru..?

"There's a mark on your finger from where you've been wearing the ring when no one is looking," Naruto winked at her. "And because Shikamaru is now head of his clan, he can hardly leave Konoha." He began walking past patting her on the shoulder with a short laugh. "Plus it's only fair; Suna is getting Sakura after all."

He left Temari standing in the hall with wearing a stupefied expression. It was only after a good thirty seconds that he came back. "Are we going to get to work or not?"

She shook her head in disbelief. That guy really did have a lot more going on than he was letting on.

* * *

><p>Seven days later, they were in the special conference room, waiting for the other Kage to appear.<p>

After the fourth great shinobi world war a system had been put in place to allow all five kage to congregate without having to travel for days and weeks. Each village had a set of transportation scrolls which allowed them to be in whichever village a meeting was being held in. So every village had a special conference room with a round table, and five seats.

This was only the second time such a meeting had been held, the first of which had been called by the Raikage to discuss the terms of the new alliance among the five villages.

Naruto glanced at Temari. "Is your brother actually going to show up? He was discharged from the hospital yesterday."

"He'll come, although I'll admit this just isn't like him." She bit her lip. "He'd better get here soon; the Tsuchikage will probably be offended if he's not here when they arrive."

Almost as if on cue, the door opened. Temari gave an audible sigh of relief, Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"You're late." He pointed out. It wasn't like he couldn't empathise with Gaara, but he was the Kazekage, he had to be responsible.

"I apologise." He took his seat in front of the banner with the Wind symbol on it. He looked tired, but his expression was serene. "It took me longer to prepare than I anticipated."

There was a moment of silence as Naruto stared at him, he had been planning on lecturing Gaara on how he was supposed to be the responsible one, but seeing his expression he decided it wasn't needed. He'd been the Kazekage for over four years; he deserved a moment to be selfish.

The silence was broken by the sound of one of the scrolls on the circular table activating.

The white smoke from the jutsu dissipated, revealing the Mizukage. She smiled brightly.

"Oh so I'm the first to arrive. Excellent that means I have you two handsome young men to myself for a while."

Temari, seemingly disgruntled that she'd been ignored, cleared her throat. "I think you'll find they're both taken."

She laughed. "That doesn't mean I can't look." She pointed out, winking at Temari.

The scroll to her right activated as Naruto took his place to her left.

"Tsuchikage-sama," Gaara acknowledged formally, "We are just waiting on the Raikage."

The old man nodded stiffly, being the fussiest and least obliging member of the alliance. But was also known that if he had to play favourites with the other Kage, he'd choose Gaara, because they'd formed an odd kind of bond during their fight against the resurrected Kage.

A few more minutes passed with meaningless pleasantries before the Raikage arrived, appearing in his place between the Tsuchikage and Gaara.

"What's this all about?" He asked bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest. Gaara looked to Naruto who in turn looked over at Temari before speaking.

"As you are aware this village was recently attacked by a group of rogue Nin. Five of the invading force were captured and have been interrogated."

He gestured for Temari to approach. "Temari-san uncovered some information which has been kept sealed and under guard in order to keep it hidden until this meeting."

A's eyes turned to Temari. "What was this information? Why did it require us to come here secretly?"

"I uncovered proof of a conspiracy among the councils of the hidden villages, excluding Konoha. Their plan is to overthrow all the Kage and take control of the villages using new Kage that they can easily control. In Konoha it is the members of the old council who are involved."

"The Hokage already sent out messages telling us he suspected as much, but you say you have proof?" Mizukage was leaning forward in interest.

"I have proof, names, the lot." She revealed the documents she and Naruto had unsealed just before the meeting. "Han Guri, of the land of water, had created what he was calling the perfect shinobi, although he did have his doubts about her. Once the councils heard of this they hired her to disrupt the hidden villages, causing the five Kage to lose support. Unfortunately for them, like her creator, she was prone to keeping records of all her achievements so all the names and plans are documented here. It also seems that their plans went awry because she murdered Guri and began directing the conspiracy. They had intended for her to disrupt things quietly but she went for all out attacks."

"Where is this kunoichi now?" A enquired.

Gaara responded to this.

"She was killed after she faced the Hokage and myself in battle." He sighed wearily. "It was however only with Sakura Haruno's assistance that we were able to defeat her."

Everyone looked interested by this. Sakura had become famous in her own right across all the great nations after all. She had been the one to develop the technique used to replace A's left arm.

"She's well I hope." Mei asked expecting a positive answer.

"She's in a coma." Naruto replied flatly, surreptitiously glancing at Gaara. His expression was completely blank.

There was a short pause before Mei responded. "Oh..."

Gaara's eyes turned to Temari. "Were you able to find out what the councils plan to do if they should succeed in overthrowing us?"

"'I'm afraid not, although apparently Kaosu had speculated that they might intend to use their new control to overthrow the Daimyō of their respective nations."

"Amazing," Ōnoki muttered. "And here I thought my council couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery."

"Before the meeting I created several facsimiles of the documents for each of you, I recommend that the original copies are sent to the land of Iron for safe keeping, because they regard all of the hidden villages." Temari said, revealing the documents and passing them around.

"I think it's clear what must be done." A stated. "The conspirators must be dealt with however each of us sees fit." He scowled at the list of names in front of him. "Personally I know who won't live to see tomorrow." He slammed the folder shut with enough force to send cracks through the table. "If that's everything, I'll be leaving."

"One last thing." Mei beamed at Naruto. "This is the first Kage meeting the sixth Hokage has attended; I'd like to take the opportunity to congratulate him on finally becoming Hokage."

"Do you really think this is the time?" Ōnoki asked shooting her a disbelieving look.

She smiled back at him in an unnerving way. "I'm not overly concerned by the actions of the council, like the Raikage I intend to make sure the traitors don't see another sunrise."

"Very well, congratulations sixth Hokage." Ōnoki muttered before placing his hand on the scroll in front of him and disappearing.

"Yes, I hope you can live up to your father's legacy." A commented before he too placed his hand on his transportation scroll.

Mei winked at him before disappearing.

Naruto sighed before opening his own transportation scroll. "I'd best get back to the village." He turned to Gaara. "Could you tell Hinata and the others to wait here for a week before heading back home? Unless Shizune is still needed in the hospital." There was a short pause. "Gaara, Sakura will be fine, so don't worry yourself you'll start going grey." He placed his hand on his own scroll leaving Gaara and Temari alone in the conference room.

"Temari please send those documents to the land of Iron." She nodded heading toward the door. "And send in the ANBU unit guarding the door."

* * *

><p>Seven hours later, Gaara had finished all his paperwork and was once again heading for the hospital.<p>

He pondered his decision regarding the traitorous council members. It had been a difficult decision for him, unlike the Raikage and Mizukage, it didn't feel right for him to have his own people assassinated, though he had been tempted to make the order. Instead he had ordered his ANBU squad to take the fourteen traitors into custody, to stand trial before the Daimyō. Four of them had committed suicide when they realised that they had been discovered, a further three had resisted arrest and had died in the ensuing fight. So only seven of them would be facing trial for their actions.

It was likely that those who attended the trial would be executed anyway, so he supposed it didn't make much difference.

He sighed as he took his place in the chair that had mysteriously appeared beside Sakura's bed.

She was still cold, but not as cold as she had been at first, Shizune had told him that she'd probably stay a bit cool for a while, considering the damage to her chakra network and circulatory system. He didn't mind that, as long as she woke up.

He took her hand. "You know I'm not going to pay you for sleeping." He teased gently. "Then you'll have to let me pay for dinner or you'll go hungry." She made no protest so he smiled. "You know you're a lot more compliant when you're in a coma..." he sighed resting his head beside her on her mattress. "I'm not sure I like it." His eyes slid shut as he kissed her hand.

She was going to wake up. He told himself, she'd said everything was going to work out.

She'd promised.

* * *

><p><em>Ooookay so there will be one more chapter, and then the epilogue, bringing it to a nice 20 lol, if there's anything you feel has been left unanswered please don't hesitate to shout it out, because as I said, this chapter will probably need to through a little more editing!<em>

_ALSO! omg at the names you've all been calling Kaosu! So far I've had Psycho, Vampire Lady, Monster and Stupid Witch, The reactions made me lol!_

_Thank you for all your reactions to the last couple of chapters as well! They've been very inspiring, all that OMGing the like =P keep it coming!_


	19. Her Promise

_It hurts._

That was the first thing that came to mind when Sakura became aware of herself again.

_Why does it hurt? And why am I so cold? Am I... choking?_

Her eyes flew open as she struggled against the tube in her throat. Something held her down for a moment pulling the tube out in a sickening sensation.

There might have been a voice, but she couldn't distinguish it over her coughing.

Then, blearily, things came into focus and her green eyes found a soft face with dark eyes.

She found herself struggling to speak, and in the end she could only croak out one word.

"Shizune?"

* * *

><p>In the week since the Kage meeting Gaara had somehow managed to find balance. He worked tirelessly during the morning, so he could spend his lunch with Sakura, and then he would work tirelessly during the afternoon so he could spend his evening with Sakura.<p>

He was tired.

With no chakra infusion, and no Sakura in his bed, he found it hard to get to sleep. Once again he'd resorted to the sleeping pills which had been tormenting him every time he looked in his desk drawer.

Those cloying nightmares had returned with a vengeance. Every morning he woke with a cold sweat, feeling like he'd just run to Konoha and back.

Eight days had passed since the Kage meeting and now Gaara had to address his village regarding all that had happened, including the forming of a new council.

Without complaint, he made his way down to the kitchen for his coffee.

Temari was there, cooking what looked like an elaborate breakfast. More unusually, Kankuro was there, everyone knew he was not a morning person.

"You're up!" Temari exclaimed, putting a plate in front of Kankuro, which he regarded suspiciously. "Just in time for a hearty breakfast!"

He couldn't help but scrutinise his older sister for a moment before sharing a confused look with Kankuro. Something was off with her this morning, clearly, but they weren't going to complain about receiving a free cooked breakfast.

"Is there something wrong Temari?"Gaara finally asked as a plate was placed in front of him.

"Nothing!" Her response was loud and maybe a little panicked. "What I can't make my two amazing little brothers a nice breakfast to start their day?"

Kankuro looked completely baffled. He leant over to speak to Gaara quietly, so Temari couldn't hear. "Well that's the first time she's called me amazing."

She sat down opposite them looking a little sheepish.

"So maybe I do have a special reason for this." She cleared her throat, turning a little pink before she held out her left hand.

They both stared at it, waiting for something to happen.

Temari counted in her head. Thirty five seconds, thirty six, thirty seven.

"OH MY GOD!" Kankuro burst out suddenly. "You're engaged?" Gaara continued to stare at the ring on her finger. He'd seen it straight away of course he was just too surprised to say anything.

"Took you long enough." She her expression was wry, but there was an anxious note to her voice. Her eyes flickered to Gaara who was still staring at her hand.

"You can't marry that Shikamaru idiot!" Kankuro exclaimed, oblivious to the fact that his sister was waiting for Gaara's response to the situation.

"Congratulations." He said finally, quietly. He sounded a little sad.

"Is that all?" Her eyebrows rose, "just a little 'congrats'?"

"Will you be happy?" He asked meeting her eyes. "I don't want you to leave, but I don't want to stop you being happy."

"You know he makes me happy." She said softly. He smiled at her, just that little smile that people who knew him knew so well.

"Then congratulations." She grinned, Kankuro looked defeated – they all knew he only hated Shikamaru because he dared touch Temari – Gaara sighed and leant back in his chair. "You must invite him back to the village so that we can threaten him."

She grinned at him. "You know I'm the one he's scared of anyway Gaara."

The rest of their breakfast was spent quietly and before long Gaara was heading out in his official robes ready to address his people and announce the new council members.

* * *

><p>The address was going well. So far no one had tried to assassinate him or contradict him, in fact one of the council members had gone so far as to openly congratulate him on his defence of the village.<p>

Temari grinned as he moved onto the topic of repairs to the village. She would have been grinning before but it probably would have been considered inappropriate to be grinning like a Cheshire cat while he talked about the executions of the old council members.

He was just mentioning that there would be a memorial stone placed in the centre of the most recently flattened area when the words seemingly stuck in his throat for a moment.

Wondering what had been the source of his distraction, she leaned forward slightly to survey the crowd. Had he seen a threat or... she frowned seeing nothing amiss in the crowd.

What was it?

* * *

><p>Cue cards are amazing, or so Gaara discovered when he felt a little flutter from his sand. She was awake.<p>

After all this time, all the time he'd spent by her bedside and she chose that moment to wake up?

Was she trying to give him a heart attack?

After what seemed like an age, he finished his speech and began struggling to get away from the crowd of council members. He felt Temari and Kankuro closing in on him.

"Gaara is there something wrong?" Kankuro was asking concern evident in his voice.

"She's awake." It was all he needed to say really. After that he found that the council members were being fended off by his siblings. In fact if he'd waited around just a little long he might have seen Temari threaten one of them with a kunai.

He almost ran headlong into Selenia as he reached the hospital. One of her eyebrows shot up. "Well, I take it that you already know she's awake." She caught his arm before he could run past her. "She's still tired, just bear that in mind."

He nodded mutely, adopting a more sedate, dignified pace as he walked into the hospital. It wasn't often that he had enough excitement about something that it needed to actually be reined in. He reached her door and raised his hand.

There was a gentle knock on the door.

Sakura dragged her eyes open again as Shizune moved away to open it. She already knew it was Gaara so she made her best effort to remain sitting up with her eyes open as he came in.

Shizune had been running a few chakra tests and was about to help her dress properly, so her legs were dangling over the edge of the bed and her hospital gown was slightly wonky. But that didn't matter much to her, she just wanted to see her Gaara, plus she had some questions for him.

She could hear Shizune whispering something to him. Her eyes drifted closed as she tried to make out his voice.

Strong hands caught her shoulders before she even realised that she'd been sliding off the bed. She found her face pressed against a warm, familiar chest.

"You're cold." The statement rumbled in his chest as he gently lifted her back onto the bed. Once again her eyes drifted open blearily. He was a few paces away picking up the clothes she was supposed to be putting on. "Shizune said you'd been asking for me."

"Yes." Her voice was weak and thin, she watched him approach again with tired eyes. "How? How am I alive?" She asked softly as his hands worked on untying the gown.

"Hmm," his eyes lingered on hers for a long moment, seemingly drinking them in, before they flickered down to the knot he was working on. "After the Rasen-Shuriken was over Shizune arrived on the scene, I didn't see it myself, but apparently you had sand armour similar to my own. The sand saved you."

She frowned at his words.

"I don't understand." He slid the gown off her shoulders gently before picking up the bra from the pile of clothes he'd placed next to her.

"Would you like to hear my theory?" His warm arms encircled her as he fastened the bra in place. She leant into him involuntarily, seeking his warmth, but he pulled away again to pick up the next item of clothing.

"No Gaara, I'd like to stay thoroughly in the dark about the whole thing." She replied sarcastically. He smiled down at her, amused by her tone.

"Did you notice? Every time you've hit me, there's been no sand to shield me. And your punches do hurt Sakura." He added with a small chuckle. "When Kaosu tried to hit you with that kunai, the sand shielded you automatically."

He pulled her shirt on over her head and poked her hands through the sleeves before unruffling her hair slightly, a thoughtful expression gracing his features. He moved on to her underwear which he quickly slipped on, lifting her slightly so he could put them on properly. He repeated the process for the trousers before he spoke again.

"My father, and my uncle, both believed that the sand didn't carry my will, or even the will of the Shukaku for that matter. They believed that it carried my mother's will to protect me." Soft eyes met hers again. "It was her." He finished simply.

Sakura released a small chuckle as she leant into his arms, her eyes drifting closed again. "Well, I'm glad your mother approves."

* * *

><p>It was more than a week later when Sakura finally got to read the documents Kaosu had left behind.<p>

In truth she was amazed by the fact that she had felt so compelled to document all that had happened to her even after she murdered her creator.

Then again, Sakura had always been one to chronicle her experiments. She'd always been the one who had written team seven's reports.

She had been discharged from the hospital that night having improved considerably, and now she was sitting in the kitchen reading the files Gaara had given her.

"You know she was only four and a half years old." She stated at random, not really caring who was in the kitchen as she read through the reports.

He looked up from his tea. Having already consigned the reports to memory, he knew this, but her tone was gloomy, and that was what caught her attention. He said nothing. She was staring at the report in front of her sadly.

"Imagine, after only four and a half years of life she was already so twisted, was it her upbringing I wonder, or maybe her genetics?" her expression was a little melancholy. She looked up at him one eyebrow arched. "You know, by the age of four I was still a shy little thing that hid her face behind her bangs." She sipped her tea thoughtfully. "It's hard to believe that with the small modifications that were made, and the accelerated growth, she became a callous evil woman."

She sighed, flipping through the files again. "There's no explanation in here as to why they chose my DNA."

"I think it's obvious." Gaara said finally. He was wearing a serious expression. "About the time that Kabuto sold your DNA, you were already famous for your medical skills and your strength. I would say that you probably caught their eye."

"Either way, I'd quite like to resurrect Kabuto so I can give him a good punching." She closed the files and slid them back to Gaara.

She was still pale and weak, despite all the time that had elapsed since the attack. At least she no longer needed to worry about the team Kakashi had led to Suna, all of them were now out of the hospital, including Kakashi.

Sakura was in for a long recovery. The damage that had been done to her chakra network and muscles was something Shizune was unable to fix. The only reason Sakura was able to remain a ninja was because her healing chakra was repairing the network by itself somehow.

She smiled to herself as she looked up at Gaara.

He was brooding over the fact that Temari was going to be heading to Konoha the next day to begin making arrangements for the wedding.

She tapped his shin with her foot grabbing his attention. "She'll visit all the time you know." He continued staring at his tea.

She leaned across the table in order to poke his forehead, to bring him out of his musing.

Her skin was still much colder than his, which is why he caught her hand before she could return to her seat. Something akin to a smirk crossed his face.

She yelped as he grabbed her other arm and pulled her across the table and into his lap. She was taken aback by his sudden move. He stroked her hair as he held her there.

"You're cold." He spoke against her neck, lips brushing the skin. She felt her brain melt just a little bit. "Only you could be cold in the desert." The lips pressed against the side of her throat.

She leant her head to the side, pressing her cheek into the top of his head. His warmth was seeping through their clothes, compared to her, he was scorching.

She closed her eyes. She'd only been out of bed for a few hours and she was already tired. Sitting there in Gaara's arms she could have quite happily fallen asleep.

"When do you think you'll be able to return to work at the hospital?" He asked absently running warm fingers through her hair.

"Mmm, well I should be able to go back in tomorrow, but only in a teaching capacity." His arms tightened around her.

"Give it a week."

"No I'll be fine to go in tomorrow, as long as I'm not actually healing." Pulling away he looked up into her eyes.

"It isn't up for debate." She looked like she might argue but he was ready for it. "You're the medic Sakura; you know that you should take it easy."

She sighed melodramatically. "But taking it easy is so boring, I hate sitting around doing nothing."

He pulled her lips down to his before murmuring against them. "I can make it a very rewarding experience for you." She felt his teeth teasing her bottom lip. "I can think of a few ways to help you relax." Just when she thought she might melt, or become a babbling idiot, he suddenly picked her up, throwing her unceremoniously over his shoulder. "But I don't think that Temari and Kankuro would appreciate you _relaxing_ in the kitchen." She could hear the laughter in his voice as she struggled half heartedly.

"You know I don't feel very relaxed right now." She pointed out, watching his back as he carried her out of the kitchen. "And if you're not careful I might throw up that nice dinner you practically forced down my throat all down your back and you won't like that."

She heard him chuckling softly. "I didn't force it down your throat."

"Che, feeding it to me saying 'here comes the volley of kunai knives' is what I would constitute as force feeding." She yelped again as he dropped her onto the bed.

She said nothing more as his lips claimed hers, pressing her gently into the mattress. There was something restrained in the way he was holding her, in the way he held his weight off her that made her heart flutter. It was strangely intoxicating to know that he was holding back all the strength in those muscles of his so that he wouldn't hurt her in her fragile state.

His lips travelled down her throat and he came to a stop above her shoulder while he simply holding her. Her fingers teased through his hair while she gazed at him pensively.

"You know I'd quite like to spar with you when I'm stronger." She decided out loud.

His head lifted up and looked down at her, eyes pensive and slightly amused, a small smile playing across his lips.

"I think it would be interesting," she continued, poking his ribs playfully, "I think I could kick your arse."

He caught both of her hands in one of his and pulled them up above her head, pinning her down effectively.

"I don't know, I _am_ the Kazekage after all." His lips found their way to her jaw line and his other hand slid under her back, pressing her stomach against his.

"Yeah but if your sand isn't going to protect you from me I think that might work to my advantage." She replied brightly.

He chuckled. "Like I'd just stand there and let you pummel me."

"You might if I give you puppy dog eyes." He looked up at her expression amused, lips twitching into that small smile she loved.

"That's disgusting; you wouldn't do that to an innocent puppy." He said reproachfully, though she knew he was joking.

"Oh nice image Gaara, really sets the mood." She laughed. His eyes smiled back at her.

"So does talking about how you want to try pummelling me at some point."

"Good point." She sighed as he pressed his lips against her nose. His arm tightened around her slightly.

"Feeling relaxed yet?"

"Like I might melt." She responded dryly. He let out a small hum of contentment before his lips claimed hers again.

"Good." He mumbled between short kisses. Abruptly he rolled off her, shifting on the bed so he could rest his head on the pillows. "Because I'm tired and I'd like to actually have a decent night's sleep."

"You know what." Sakura sat up on the bed, guessing the real reason he had suddenly decided it was time for sleep. His eyes widened as she rolled him onto his back straddling his waist. He let her pin his hands above his head the same way he had just pinned hers. "I don't feel very _rewarded_ yet." She whispered against his lips.

She barely even had time to see the hungry look in his eyes before his arms broke free of her grasp and pulled her closer, his fingers pressing into her back as he flipped them both over.

She dragged her fingers down his perfect back – one of the perks of being a shinobi, having a perfectly toned body - earning a delicious moan against her lips.

It was well over an hour and a half later that Gaara wrapped his arms around the still too cold Sakura. Her back was pressed against his chest; his face was buried in the crook of her neck.

"Gaara?" She mumbled sleepily.

"Mmm?"

"I don't want you to say anything to this. Because I know that you're not really ready so just shut up and listen ok?"

He let out a small chuckle at her wording, but he sat up a little so he could just about make out her eyes in the dark of the room.

"Well?"

"You have to promise." He frowned at that.

"I promise."

He saw her smile even in the darkness. She whispered it like a girl telling her dearest secret.

"I love you."

* * *

><p><em>Omg I'm feeling a little bit sad now, I just need to upload and post the epilogue and it's over. :'( <em>

_I'm not overly happy with some of this chapter, although I'm mostly happy with it so it might get tweaked a little over time._

_So please review, enjoy and the epilogue will be up momentarily!_

_Oh do let me know if I've forgotten to explain anything important!_


	20. Epilogue:  My Friend

_It's been three and a half years Sasuke. But then I guess you probably know that._

_Naruto is really coming into his own as Hokage, he's come such a long way from the knucklehead he was ten years ago._

_And he just told me he's going to be a dad. I know right? Can you believe it? Our Naruto becoming a father. It's a little scary to think about him being responsible for a child. But then he's changed a lot, and he has Hinata to guide him._

_Kakashi is the same as ever, although he's surprisingly excited about being 'uncle Kakashi'. To be honest I think he'll probably be seen more as a grandpa, so we're looking forward to teasing him about that._

_I got married last month._

_We left a seat for you at the ceremony._

_I wanted our team to be together one last time._

_You probably think that's stupid but it felt good to think you were there with us. Kakashi gave me away, because as you know my father died a few years back, I think there was a bit of a fight over who would get to do it, but he's always been a bit of a father figure to all of us I think._

_It was a beautiful ceremony, I'm pretty sure all of Suna was there, and most of Konoha as well come to think of it. In truth neither of us had cared much for the idea of a big event, but it was an inter-village marriage involving the Kazekage so I suppose we couldn't have just eloped. But the whole thing worked out so wonderfully, and the best part was I didn't even have to organise it! _

_Oh and I was made Konoha's official ambassador in Suna, I get my own office and everything, how cool am I? I still work at their hospital as well; Gaara said I needed to earn my keep somehow. Did you know he could joke? Three years ago I might have been baffled by the idea of him making a joke, but now I don't understand why people are so shocked by the idea._

_Anyway, I should probably get going, Gaara's waiting for me._

_I miss you, and I'll love you always Sasuke, my friend._

Sakura touched to stone gently before getting to her feet and turning away.

Gaara was standing twenty feet away with his back to her, head inclined toward the sky.

She smiled at the back of his head. She could almost see the expression; he was impatient to get back to Suna after being away for so long, that would be in the slightly harder line of his lips. He also knew that this was something Sakura had to do, so the stoic tolerance would be somewhere in the way his frown didn't really reach his eyes.

She bounded up to him and grabbed his hand with her cooler one, leaning her cheek on his left shoulder for a second.

"All done, let's go home." He looked down at her and his lips twitched as he nodded.

Everyone had been horrified by the news that Gaara had never told her he loved her. There had even been a bet that he would say it at the ceremony; Naruto had won big time thanks to Sakura advising him to bet against it. He'd be eating free ramen for years to come.

She knew he loved her. It was in that little twitch in his lips whenever he looked at her, and the way he squeezed her hand just a little bit. In the way he kissed her gently and stroked her jaw before he tugged her hand gently to get her moving.

Maybe he'd say it eventually, on some sleepy morning sometime in the future.

For now he didn't need to.

They raced away from Konoha, making a beeline for Suna, their oasis, their peace.

Home.

**_Fin_**

* * *

><p><em>I know this epilogue is very short, but this is exactly how I wanted it to be, I've had this bit written for so long because to me it's just how it's supposed to be for them.<em>

_aaaah I feel so sad that this is it, my first fic has now drawn to a close._

_I want to thank everyone who has faithfully read and reviewed each chapter, it's actually the most exciting part of my day waiting for the first review to pop up so thank you guys!_

_Just a final reminder that I have some original works on tumblr which you can find through my profile, and I'd very much appreciate people giving those a look over as well!_


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